Does drinking tea cause dehydration?
Research from the UK suggests that, contrary to popular opinion, tea doesn’t dehydrate. One of the study researchers, Dr Claire Ruxton, said: “Studies on caffeine have found very high doses dehydrate and everyone assumes that caffeine-containing beverages dehydrate. But even if you had a really, really strong cup of tea or coffee, which is quite hard to make, you would still have a net gain of fluid.” If we compare the caffeine content in tea to that of coffee, tea contains much less. • A cup of tea contains an average of 40mg of caffeine. • A freshly brewed cup of coffee contains around 85mg per cup. Milk: to have, or not to have? It was previously thought that milk would bind to the flavonoids in tea, therefore reducing availability for absorption in the body. However, a study carried out in 2007 found that adding milk did not affect the concentration of flavonoids in the blood. There are many lifestyle and medical risk factors that contribute to heart disease, therefore it’s importa
