Can Tea Drinking Prevent Heart Disease?
Exclusive MNS Library Article The short answer to the question posed in the title is: no. But there are numerous studies that lend credence to a popular idea that tea can help improve heart health. Tea contains a type of polyphenol compound called catechins. Many teas undergo oxidation of catechins, producing theaflavins. Which, and how much, of each type of compound varies between types of tea. White teas undergo the least processing, typically being protected from oxidation. The buds are harvested young and they don’t go through the drying process that causes other teas to darken. That leaves all the original catechins intact. Green teas undergo slight oxidation and black teas get the most. But each type still has heart health benefits, despite the differing concentrations and forms of polyphenols. In one six year Dutch study of almost 5,000 men and women, those who drank a little more than a cup and a half per day had a risk of heart attack only two-thirds that of non-tea drinkers.
