Mortali-tea
There have been many highly productive relationships that had a competitive element to them; Lennon-McCartney, Abbott-Costello (the Hollywood version), and Caesar-Antony are a just a few. In the beverage world we could add coffee-tea to that list…or should that be tea-coffee? Proponents of each drink are fierce in their advocacy but it is tea drinkers who will be most enamoured of a new French study showing that tea drinking can promote longevity and reduce mortality.
The study involved 131,000 people aged between 18 and 95 who had a health check at a Paris medical centre between 2001 and 2008. On average the people who then followed up over a 3.5 year period. The people were given questionnaires about coffee or tea consumption such that they feel into one of three categories in terms of amount consumed; none, one to four cups per day, or more than four cups per day.
Overall coffee drinkers tended to have a higher risk of developing cardiovascular disease than tea drinkers but this difference disappeared when you took smoking out of the equation. The results showed that of those who didn’t drink coffee only 17 per cent smoked whereas 57 per cent of those who drank more than four cups per day were smokers. So it seems that high levels of coffee consumption might be linked to a personal disregard that is also linked to smoking but it is probably not the coffee itself that is the problem.
Tea drinkers had a reverse profile to coffee drinkers with tea fanciers being less likely to have a cardiovascular problem than non-tea drinkers. As well, tea drinkers were more likely to engage in regular physical activity and less likely to smoke.
On top of the cardiovascular benefits, which could result from tea’s antioxidant content, it also emerged that tea drinkers were 24 per cent less likely to die from any cause than those who drank no tea at all. So tea drinking is associated with reduced mortality risk overall. The question is whether it is the tea itself causing this, or do people who choose tea also choose a generally healthier lifestyle? Either way, it seems it is tea time.
