Black Tea Good for Your Health

Happy news for you who always drank tea in the morning. Recent findings showed drinking black tea can lower blood pressure significantly.


Scientists from the University of Western Australia and Unilever found drinking three cups of tea per day could lower systolic and diastolic blood pressure. The research was conducted on black tea alone, the effects of drinking tea mixed with milk is unknown.

Measurement of blood pressure is divided in two. The first is the systolic that measures blood pressure when the heart beats, or work pushing blood throughout the body. The second is the diastolic pressure which measures the amount of the beat of it, when the heart is in a resting position.

"It's been proven that the tea is good for your heart health, but new findings suggest another benefit of the relationship between tea and the major risk factors for heart disease," said study leader, Professor Jonathan Hodgson.

Researchers conducted a small study involving 95 Australian participants aged 35-75 years who were recruited to take between three cups of black tea or a placebo with the same flavor and contains caffeine.

After six months, researchers found participants who drank black tea had systolic and diastolic blood pressures are lower by about 2-3 mmHg, compared with the placebo group. Decrease in blood pressure of 2-3 mmHg were considered to reduce the 10 percent risk of hypertension and heart disease.

Tea is the world's second most popular beverage after water. Tea contains folifenol, an antioxidant shown to stop cancer cell growth. Another study from Harvard University found that drinking tea can increase the body's immune function.