Even one cup of tea a day may be good for your heart’s health.
A study led by Dr. Elliott Miller at Johns Hopkins Hospital found that when compared to people who never drank tea, daily tea consumers had
35 percent lower risk of cardiac arrest, stroke, heart attack and death by other cardiovascular causes. Their coronary arteries also stayed clearer.
“We found that being a moderate tea drinker was associated with a decreased progression of major adverse cardiovascular events,” the Johns Hopkins researchers told the American Heart Association.
The subjects who were studied had had no previous heart disease for at least 15 years. They spent five years tracking how many calcium deposits were in their blood vessels and 11 years recording any incidents of chest pains, stroke, heart attack or death from cardiovascular disease. The positive effect was found for those drinking one to three cups of tea a day.
But, Miller noted, “This is an observational study and we can’t say for sure it was the tea or just the healthier lifestyle of the tea drinkers.”
So far, this study, “Association of Tea Intake with Coronary Artery Calcification and Cardiovascular Events: Results from the Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis,” has been presented to the American Heart Association. It has not yet been published by a peer-reviewed journal.
