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selecta · Member Joined: 24 Dec 2006 Posts: 813 Location: ORD

By Patricia Reaney
Reuters
Mon Jan 8, 7:10 PM ET
link

Drinking tea can reduce the risk of heart disease and stroke but only if milk is not added to the brew, German scientists said on Tuesday.

Research has shown that tea improves blood flow and the ability of the arteries to relax but researchers at the Charite Hospital at the University of Berlin in Mitte found milk eliminates the protective effect against cardiovascular disease.

"The beneficial effects of drinking black tea are completely prevented by the addition of milk, said Dr Verena Stangl, a cardiologist at the hospital.

"If you want to drink tea to have the beneficial health effects you have to drink it without milk. That is clearly shown by our experiments," she told Reuters.

Tea is second only to water in worldwide consumption so any benefits could have important public health implications. But until now it was not known whether adding milk had an impact.

Stangl and her team discovered that proteins called caseins in milk decrease the amount of compounds in tea known as catechins which increase its protection against heart disease.

They believe their findings, which are reported in the European Heart Journal, could explain why countries such as Britain, where tea is regularly consumed with milk, have not shown a decreased risk of heart disease and stroke from drinking tea.

The researchers compared the health effects of drinking boiled water and tea with and without milk on 16 healthy women. Using ultrasound, they measured the function of an artery in the forearm before and two hours after drinking tea.

Black tea significantly improved blood flow compared to drinking water but adding milk blunted the effect of the tea.

"We found that, whereas drinking tea significantly increased the ability of the artery to relax and expand to accommodate increased blood flow compared with drinking water, the addition of milk completely prevents the biological effect," said Dr Mario Lorenz, a molecular biologist and co-author of the study.

Tests on rats produced similar results. When rodents were exposed to black tea they produced more nitric oxide which promotes dilation of blood vessels. But adding milk blocked the effect.

Tea has also been shown to have a protective effect against cancer so the findings could have further implications.

"Since milk appears to modify the biological activities of tea ingredients, it is likely that the anti-tumor effects of tea could be affected as well," said Stangl.

"I think it is essential that we re-examine the association between tea consumption and cancer protection, to see if that is the case," she added.
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HAWK21M · Posted: Wed Jan 10, 2007 12:36 pm Post subject:

Interesting.What does it say about Sugar in Black tea.Yes otr no.
regds
MEL
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Think of the Brighter side !!!

Nimish · Posted: Wed Jan 10, 2007 1:52 pm Post subject:

I don't think sugar matters so much, it's the milk that reacts with the chemicals in the tea and messes things up.

I personally love green/black tea (no milk/no sugar), and do not miss the milk or sugar at all. I end up drinking at least 4-6 glasses green tea every day at work, and I'm glad India suddenly has a surfeit of "green tea" tea-bags in all supermarkets. Personally I prefer the "Pure Darjeeling tea" from "infinitea" - absolutely splendid and pure.

HAWK21M · Posted: Thu Jan 11, 2007 11:40 am Post subject:

I only drink Tea if its cold outdoors.But never tried the Sugarless black version yet.Might just have a go.Im mainly a very heavy Water drinker Very Happy

regds
MEL
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Think of the Brighter side !!!

aarbee · Member Joined: 19 Dec 2006 Posts: 328 Location: WAS/AMD

Personally I prefer the Milk version. If office have to do with the creamer version though.

One thing is good that in India Tetley has tea-bags of Ginger, Elaiche, Masala teas. It is good.

Out here I see Lipton has finally started "Spcied Chai" with strong Masala flavours. I'm hooked onto it for my afternoon shot. So far Walmart is the only one I've seen it.