The BBC reports on a 13-year study conducted by Dutch researchers:
Those who drank more than six cups of tea a day cut their risk of heart disease by a third, the study of 40,000 people found.
Consuming between two to four coffees a day was also linked to a reduced risk.
The study focused on black tea, which the Dutch tend to take straight, no sugar or milk. In general, the studies I’ve seen tend to fix heart & cardiovascular benefits to black tea; green tea’s reserved for other studies. Read on in the article for some notes on coffee, which a common-sense interpretation of the research suggests should actually hurt cardiovascular health. Of course, it’s a plant-based, very complex set of chemicals and therefore confounds common sense by interacting with the human body in complex, fascinating ways.
And– as the article notes– taking your coffee or tea while smoking a pack of cigs will probably negate any health benefits. Same for using rendered bacon fat as a sugar substitute, or drinking it from a porcelaine tea set while operating a motor vehicle at 88 miles per hour around the rim of an active volcano. Be careful out there!
