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The Healthiest Beverage

Drinking five cups of green tea every day may extend one’s lifespan.

September 3, 2010 |
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The Healthiest Beverage, 5.0 out of 5 based on 4 ratings

Sources Cited

Friedman M. Overview of antibacterial, antitoxin, antiviral, and antifungal activities of tea flavonoids and teas. Mol Nutr Food Res. 2007 Jan;51(1):116-34.

Zhang M, Holman CD, Huang JP, Xie X. Green tea and the prevention of breast cancer: a case-control study in Southeast China. Carcinogenesis. 2007 May;28(5):1074-8. Epub 2006 Dec 20.

Kuriyama S, Shimazu T, Ohmori K, Kikuchi N, Nakaya N, Nishino Y, Tsubono Y, Tsuji I. Green tea consumption and mortality due to cardiovascular disease, cancer, and all causes in Japan: the Ohsaki study. JAMA. 2006 Sep 13;296(10):1255-65.

Molinari M, Watt KD, Kruszyna T, Nelson R, Walsh M, Huang WY, Nashan B, Peltekian K. Acute liver failure induced by green tea extracts: case report and review of the literature. Liver Transpl. 2006 Dec;12(12):1892-5.

Stanner, S. Does adding milk remove the benefits of your daily cuppa? Nutrition Bulletin, Vol. 32, No. 2. (June 2007), pp. 101-103.

Acknowledgements

Transcript

So no Herbalife, no Noni juice. There is a beverage other than water I do encourage everyone to drink everyday though and that is tea. This year a review was published on the antibacterial, antitoxin, antiviral and antifungal activities of tea. What more could we want? Anticancer? Done. We conclude that the regular consumption of green tea can protect against cancer. What else could we ask for? How about antideath? Tea has got that too! Reduced all cause mortality. Drink green tea everyday and live on average a longer life. This really shouldn't come as a surprise after all it's just dark green leafies in water. I know what some people may be thinking though. Rather than drink the five cups a day it may take to extend one's life if it's so good for you I'll just take some green tea extract pills. Certainly lots to choose from. Not a good idea. Why was there a study about green tea extract pills in the Journal of Liver Transplantation? Because of the acute liver failure induced by green tea extract. Five cups of tea isn't that much. It's really just one pot of tea. 40 ounces is the size of typical drinking bottle, less than a super big gulp. 40 ounces is frankly 40 ounces and no I'm not saying you should drink a 40 everyday. There are now dozens of flavored green teas on the market if you don't like the taste of it straight, just don't put cow's milk in it. This year from the British Nutrition Foundation, does adding milk remove the benefits of your daily cuppa tea? The answer is yes. It seems that cow proteins bind up all the good phytonutrients. None of the soy, rice or nut proteins in plant based milks have that same nutrition cancelling effect.  

To see any graphs, charts, graphics, images, and quotes to which Dr. Greger may be referring watch the above video. This is just an approximation of the audio contributed by veganmontreal.

To help out on the site please email volunteer@nutritionfacts.org

Dr. Michael Greger

Doctor's Note

Please feel free to post any ask-the-doctor type questions here in the comments section and I’d be happy to try to answer them. And check out theother videos on green tea. Also, there are 1,449 other subjects covered in the rest of my videos--please feel free to explore them as well!

For an update, check out my blog posts: Hibiscus tea: flower power and Coffee Caveats.

  • http://nutritionfacts.org/members/mgreger/ Michael Greger M.D.

    Please feel free to post any ask-the-doctor type questions here in the comments section and I’d be happy to try to answer them. And check out the other videos on green tea. Also, there are 1,449 other subjects covered in the rest of my videos–please feel free to explore them as well!

    For an update, check out my blog post Hibiscus tea: flower power.

  • http://nutritionfacts.org/members/stevesmallhomes/ stevesmallhomes

    Green tea sounds great, but I can’t do that much caffeine. Does decaf green tea have the same benefits?

    • http://nutritionfacts.org/members/debpate/ debpate

      The amount of caffeine in green tea depends on the type of tea and the duration of brewing the tea. You can reduce the caffeine content of green tea by using these following steps for brewing tea:
      1. Use the leaves rather than tea bags which have higher caffeine content. Also tea bags generally have poor favor compared to the leaves.
      2. Boil the tea for 5minutes and throw away the first infusion, use the second or third infusion which reduces the caffeine content as much as 80%.
      3. Another method is to cut the amount of tea leaves used for per serving by ½.
      4. It is thought that the effects of caffeine in green tea can be reduced by drinking it hot. Some of the components in green tea reduce the activities of caffeine i.e. ctechine and theanine which combine with caffeine while brewing, on cooling these components break down and the caffeine becomes active.

  • http://nutritionfacts.org/members/mpbailey/ mpbailey

    I have just been introduced to a product that is a combination of green tea and ganoderma (a red mushroom). It also comes mixed with coffee. I was wondering if you have seen amy research on ganoderma. Thank you so much for this website. It is wonderful!

    • http://nutritionfacts.org/members/mgreger/ Michael Greger M.D.

      I’m so glad you’re finding the website useful! Ganoderma lucidum is more commonly known as the reishi mushroom, one of the oldest known fungi used medicinally. According to the latest review on the subject, there are remarkably few clinical studies on its use despite its popularity throughout East Asia. It does appear to have beneficial immunomodulatory effects in cancer patients but without endpoint data (such as survival and remission rates), case reports with names like Fatal Fulminant Hepatitis Associated With Ganoderma would argue against drinking it in your coffee until we know more. The healthiest thing to drink is likely green tea, We have good evidence of its benefits and, as a bonus, no fatal side-effects!

  • http://nutritionfacts.org/members/KarenLaVine/ Karen LaVine

    Based on one of your other videos, i now cold brew 2 quarts (first quart regular, 2nd quart decaf) of green tea overnight to enjoy the next day. I start with the first quart straight off every AM. (I plan to get some white tea when the green is all gone.) And based on the amyloid and apple juice video, I also grate in a generous amount of fresh ginger. I hope you can continue to research and share all the important new nutritional information that’s out there! Thank you! Thank you!

  • http://nutritionfacts.org/members/wickedchicken/ wickedchicken

    I read the article by the BNF. In it they described 3 studies showing positive associations of milk effecting tea [i.e. antioxidant benefit], and then contrasted them with 4 studies which showed no effect of milk on tea, concluding there are no recommendations and the area needs further research. I really like this website, but I hate cherry-picking. Just state all the info and let people decide for themselves.

    http://missclasses.com/mp3s/Prize%20CD%202010/Previous%20years/Tea/j%252E1467-3010%252E2007%252E00636%252Ex.pdf

    • http://nutritionfacts.org/members/toxins/ Toxins

      The study you just posted showed a negative effect by adding milk. Check out this video showing a negative affect of milk when used with blueberries and blackberries.
      http://nutritionfacts.org/videos/nutrient-blocking-effects-of-dairy/

      If you can post links to the studies that show a positive effect with milk that would be helpful, so we can analyze it.

  • http://nutritionfacts.org/members/hunniliz/ hunniliz

    The green tea that I drink each day is loose premium tea. The instructions state that the tea may be steeped multiple times, so although I drink 5 cups/day, it’s usually from one batch of tea leaves. I do drink a cup of matcha 1st thing each morning, but the rest of the day is steeped green tea. Should I start with fresh tea leaves every cup or every other cup to get the greatest health benefits?

  • http://nutritionfacts.org/members/drdons/ DrDons

    Hi Hunniliz, Since you are extracting antioxidants with each brew the amount you get with each subsequent steep would be less(all things else being equal such as brewing time… green tea not affected like other teas by temperatures.. http://nutritionfacts.org/video/cold-steeping-green-tea so fresh tea leaves with each cup would give you more antioxidants. However since you drink a cup of matcha which contains much more antioxidants then standard green tea you are getting a good amount of antioxidants. You can increase the absorption of antioxidants by adding a squeeze of citrus(http://nutritionfacts.org/videos/green-tea-vs-white/), don’t add soy milk(http://nutritionfacts.org/videos/soymilk-suppression/ ) and for variety you might want to consider chai(http://nutritionfacts.org/videos/the-healthiest-beverage-2/).

  • http://nutritionfacts.org/members/bpcveg/ BPC

    Is there any evidence that the paper bags used to hold tea leaves are harmful? I mean is there some processing product like bleach on the paper that could be harmful?

  • http://nutritionfacts.org/members/joel/ Joel

    Karen LaVine, Sounds good. I have an old Champion juicer so juiced a pound of organic ginger and got about a cup of THE most potent/concentrated ginger juice imaginable. I’d say it’s about 3 times as potent as the GingerPeople brand in a bottle. Current recipe —
    2 cups organic green and/or white tea, caff or decaff
    2 cups almost boiling water; after steeping, add
    2 teaspoons fresh organic ginger juice,
    stevia or honey or other sweetener to taste,
    lemon, either a quarter of a big Meyer lemon or other lemon, juiced into the mix; add the chopped zest if you can.
    Stir, drink hot in the morning. Yum, it’s a 2-yr habit already.
    Wish I could afford organic matcha. Do if you can.

    • http://nutritionfacts.org/members/catchley/ catchley

      Hi Joel – I’m a newbie to using loose leaf tea. Where do you buy yours (is there a good on-line source?) and how, specifically, do you filter the concoction so that you aren’t picking tea leaves from your teeth? Thanks!

  • Becky

    Isn’t that amount of caffeine bad for you? I have quit most caffinated drinks due to the studies on caffeine, the negative of the caffeine outweighs the good of green tea doesn’t it?

  • Hathor42

    How does rooibos tea stack up against the others?  Any drawbacks to consumption you’ve seen in the medical literature?

  • Rhonda

    What about decaf green tea? That’s what I drink most of the time.

    • http://www.DonForresterMD.com/ Don Forrester MD

      Decaf green tea has undergone one of several processes for taking the caffeine out of the drink. Since it removes caffeine it could potentially remove other substances from the tea plus could add some substances. A quick pub med search didn’t turn up in studies on showing the removal of antioxidant materials although it did show a study by Chan et al in 1996 in Caries Res which showed an increase in fluoride in decaf vs regular tea. See the video on overdosing on green tea…. http://nutritionfacts.org/video/overdosing-on-tea/ which Dr. Greger recommends not exceeding 10 per day. Since there is increased fluoride in decaf green tea it would seem logical to lower that recommendation. Of course there are other teas which are healthy and don’t contain any caffeine (decaf still contains some caffeine) see… http://nutritionfacts.org/video/the-healthiest-herbal-tea/ where dandelion came out on top. So maybe variety is the key. Still tea seems to be the healthiest drink including my drink of choice when traveling by airplane…. see http://nutritionfacts.org/video/healthiest-airplane-beverage-2/ and oh yes add a wedge of lime with your order to increase antioxidant absorption… they usually won’t have lemon wedges in my experience.

  • http://www.facebook.com/JJAccomando JohnandJennifer Accomando

    Is it ok to add green tea to vegetable/fruit juicing?

    • Silverfish

      i also ask this

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