A new study published in the Journal of American Medical Association found that drinking Green Tea may prolong life.
The study was conducted in Japan, a country where more than 80 percent of its population consumes the customary beverage.
The study gathered information on more than 40,000 Japanese men and women over an 11 year period. Tea consumption as well as other habits that may influence death were taken into account. Outome measures included death, heart disease, stroke, and cancer incidence.
Those individuals who drank more than 3 cups of green tea on a daily basis were less likely to die during the followup period compared to those who drank less than one cup a day. The difference was as great as 16-26 percent reduction in mortality. Green tea drinkers were also less likely to die of heart disease, the number one killer in the world today.
There was not a net effect observed on cancer deaths, which had been expected based on previous animal studies.
The authors suggest that this life prolonging effect may be due to the high levels of polyphenols in Green tea. Polyphenols are a particular antioxidant that have proven to decrease heart disease and cancer in other studies.
Posted by Dr. Christina Gutierrez on September 23, 2006 01:48 PM
