A cup of tea has long been a small ritual of comfort, but a large observational study of more than 485,000 Chinese adults suggests the ritual may carry different consequences for the heart depending on how often it is taken and how hot it is. Followed for about nine years, participants who drank tea several times a week showed lower rates of vascular disease, while those who habitually sipped scalding tea showed higher rates. The findings describe patterns in people's own accounts of their habits rather than proof that tea or its temperature changes the course of illness, and they leave open h
Scalding Tea May Raise Heart and Blood Vessel Risk, Large China Study Finds
Researchers recorded more than 14,800 cases of vascular disease, including heart attacks, strokes and peripheral artery disease, among participants followed for about nine years.
Temperature may be one factor worth weighing in the cup
Mark
Start with the big number. Why does a study of 485,000 people matter here?
Mimi
Size gives it weight. Over about nine years they logged more than 14,800 vascular cases, including heart attacks, strokes and peripheral artery disease, so the comparisons rest on a lot of events.
Mark
And the result is mixed. Tea helps, but hot tea doesn't?
Mimi
Roughly. Drinking tea at least three days a week was tied to about 11% lower risk. But "burning hot" drinkers had 16% higher risk than people who don't regularly drink tea.
Luke
Careful with "helps." This is observational. It shows an association, not that tea or its temperature changed anyone's risk.
Mark
What could be muddying it?
Luke
Two things we know: the tea habits were self-reported, and lifestyle differences may have influenced the results. Beyond that, the source doesn't say which factors.
Mark
What about black versus green tea?
Mimi
Black tea was linked to lower risk across more types of vascular disease than green. The polyphenols are the obvious suspect, but the study didn't test whether they explain anything.
Luke
And the six to eight cups figure is just the lowest estimated risk among weekly drinkers. The researchers didn't say that's an amount anyone should drink.
Mark
So what's the takeaway?
Mimi
Temperature may be worth thinking about, and the question deserves more research.
Il Polso
- A study of more than 485,000 adults in China has placed a familiar daily habit under a sharper, more uncertain light.
- Over roughly nine years, researchers tracked more than 14,800 cases of heart attack, stroke and peripheral artery disease.
- Frequent tea drinkers, at least three days a week, showed about 11% lower vascular disease risk than less frequent drinkers.
- Habitual drinkers of 'burning hot' tea showed about 16% higher risk, pulling the headline benefit into doubt.
- Every finding rests on self-reported habits and observational data, so researchers can point to association but not cause.
- The results are landing as a call for further study of temperature, not as advice to change how anyone brews.
A cup of tea has long been a small ritual of comfort, but a large observational study of more than 485,000 Chinese adults suggests the ritual may carry different consequences for the heart depending on how often it is taken and how hot it is. Followed for about nine years, participants who drank tea several times a week showed lower rates of vascular disease, while those who habitually sipped scalding tea showed higher rates. The findings describe patterns in people's own accounts of their habits rather than proof that tea or its temperature changes the course of illness, and they leave open how much of the difference the drink itself is responsible for.
A cup of tea that is too hot to sip may mean something different for the heart than one that has cooled a little. That is the suggestion from a study of more than 485,000 adults in China, published Oct. 21 in the Journal of Internal Medicine, which looked at how often people drank tea, how strong they made it, and how hot they took it.
Participants were between 30 and 79 years old and were followed for about nine years. Over that time, researchers recorded more than 14,800 cases of vascular disease, including heart attacks, strokes and peripheral artery disease. The headline finding on frequency was favorable: people who drank tea at least three days a week had roughly 11% lower risk than those who drank it less often.
Temperature complicated the picture. Those who regularly drank "burning hot" tea had a 16% higher risk than people who did not regularly drink tea at all, while tea taken at room temperature or hot but comfortable was linked to lower risk. The researchers suggest temperature may matter, though the study cannot show that heat itself caused the differences.
The work also points to moderate strength and black tea as more favorable, and it notes that polyphenols in tea may play a role, though that was not confirmed. Yet the findings rely on participants' own accounts and cannot separate tea from other lifestyle differences. For now, they are a reason to keep studying tea temperature, not a prescription for the kettle.
A cup of tea that is too hot to sip may carry a different meaning for the heart than one that has cooled a little. That is the suggestion from a study of more than 485,000 adults in China, published Oct. 21 in the Journal of Internal Medicine, which examined how often people drink tea, how strong they make it, and how hot they take it.
The participants were between 30 and 79 years old, and researchers followed them for about nine years. In that time they recorded more than 14,800 cases of vascular disease, a category that includes heart attacks, strokes and peripheral artery disease.
The headline finding on frequency was favorable. People who reported drinking tea at least three days a week had an approximately 11% lower risk of vascular disease than those who drank it less often, according to CNN's account of the research, which USA Today relayed.
Temperature complicated that picture. Participants who said they drank "burning hot" tea had a 16% higher risk of vascular disease than people who did not regularly drink tea at all. By contrast, those who drank tea at room temperature, or hot but comfortable, showed a lower risk than non-regular drinkers. The researchers suggest temperature may be one factor worth weighing, though the study does not establish that heat itself produced the differences.
Strength and type also appeared in the results. People who drank moderate-strength tea had a lower risk than those who did not regularly drink it. When the researchers compared varieties, black tea was linked to lower risk across more kinds of vascular disease than green tea was.
Tea contains natural compounds called polyphenols, including flavonoids, which scientists have studied for possible antioxidant and anti-inflammatory effects. The study did not determine whether those compounds account for the associations it found.
Among people who drank tea at least once a week, those who drank about six to eight cups a day had the lowest estimated risk. That is not a recommendation. The researchers did not work out how much tea people should drink to prevent disease, and the figure rests on participants' own descriptions of their habits.
That self-reporting is one of the study's central limits. The work is observational, so it shows association rather than cause, and differences in lifestyle between tea drinkers and non-drinkers may have shaped the results. For now, the findings read as a reason for further research on tea temperature, not as a prescription for the kettle.
Citazioni salienti
The findings show an association, not proof that tea at a particular temperature causes or prevents disease.— USA Today, summarizing the study's limits
Vuoi la storia completa?
Leggi l'originale su USA Today ↗
Science & Space