Tea AND Cholesterol

According to Dutch research, drinking tea protects against the build-up of cholesterol in the arteries, especially in women. Results indicated that people who drank one to two cups of tea a day were 46% less likely to develop severe atherosclerosis, rising to 69% in those who drank four cups of tea a day. The protective benefit of tea was most pronounced among women. The authors acknowledge that at least in the West, people who drink tea generally have a healthier lifestyle and diet, which may account for the findings. In this study, for example, the researchers found that people who drank more tea tended to be lean, had a healthy diet, and smoked less. However the fairly high levels of antioxidant flavonoids in black tea are thought to protect against arterial plaques, the fatty deposits that clog arteries, by preventing fat from being deposited on artery walls (Archives of Internal Medicine 1999;159:2170-2174).