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Green is in

The world consumes millions of tons of tea every year. Only water is more popular as a beverage. Tea is rich in antioxidants like polyphenols — long suspected of helping prevent cancer and atherosclerosis.

Even if tea has only a minor impact on preventing these diseases, the overall benefit for India, where hundreds of millions drink tea daily, could be enormous. Could the longevity of the Japanese be partly due to their tea-drinking habits? Again, a theory that never quite attained the status of fact. That is, not until recently.

The Ohsaki Study, conducted by Japanese researcher on 40,530 persons in Miyagi Prefecture in north-eastern Japan, where 80 per cent of the population drinks green tea, was the largest study to evaluate the effect of tea on disease and mortality. The results were mixed.

Those who drink 5 cups of green tea every day have a 16 per cent lower risk of cardiovascular death than those who take less than one cup per day. However, green tea has significant benefits even for those who drink only a cup everyday. Other studies show similar reduction in incidence of stroke.

The health benefits of tea are seen more in women. The researchers speculate that the higher incidence of smoking in men may explain this nullification of the benefit of tea.

Now the bad news. Tea does not appear to lower the risk of cancer. An earlier Japanese study conducted on a population of around 6000 persons appeared to show otherwise. The Ohsaki study, however, now takes precedence in this matter because of its large population size and long duration of follow-up.

Significantly, this study did not find any reduction in death from cancer or cardiovascular disease in those who take black tea. Since most Indians take black tea, which is green tea after a lot of bruising oxidation and processing, the results are a call for us to change our choice to green tea.

Making the change is important because Indians, like many Asians, are at greater risk of heart disease and stroke when compared with Caucasians of a similar weight.

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