Green Tea and Bone
Growing Old Gracefully
Green tea and bone studies have consistently found that it promotes bone growth and reduces osteoporosis risk.
Studies have found that regular tea consumption preserved bone density,
possibly due to its high fluoride, flavonoids and phytoestrogen content.
A Taiwanese study found that it is not the amount of tea a person drinks, but
the long-term consumption of tea that makes the difference.
The National Cheung Kung University published a green tea and bone study in
the May 2002 Edition of the Archive of Internal Medicine. The extensive study surveyed 1,037 Chinese adults tea drinking habits
starting from 1996.
These are what the researchers found:
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Benefits were most noticeable in people who drink at
least 2 cups of green, oolong or black tea a day, for at least 6 years.
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People who drink tea regularly for over 10 years have the highest overall
bone mineral densities – 6.2% higher than non regular tea drinkers.
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Regular tea drinkers for 6 to 10 years have bone mineral densities that are
2.3% higher than non regular tea drinkers.
Another study involved 1,256 women aged 65 to 76 in United Kingdom.
Researchers found that tea drinkers have 5% higher bone mineral densities
after allowing for differences in age, body mass index, smoking status, the use
of hormone replacement therapy, coffee drinking and the addition of milk.
The author concluded that drinking tea may protect against osteoporosis in
older women.
Finally, a recent 2008 study published by the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition confirmed that drinking tea protects women from bone loss and osteoporosis.
Amanda Devine of the University of Western Australia, Perth, measured the bone density of the hip at the beginning and ends of the five-year study. It added that women who were regular tea drinkers had a higher bone density in the hip compared with non-tea drinkers.
Researchers did not find a relationship between the number of cups of tea consumed per day and bone mineral density.
"Other variables, such as dietary calcium and coffee intake, physical activity, and smoking did not appear to be important confounders of the relation between tea and [bone density]."
One concern is that tea may interfere with the absorption of calcium and iron. But you can take
some precautions against this.
Green Tea and Iron
Hegarty VM, May HM, Khaw KT (2002). Tea drinking and bone mineral density in
older women. Am J Clin Nutr 71:1003-1007.
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