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MONDAY, June 23, 2003 (HealthDayNews) -- Research has shown that tea can prevent a gamut of health problems, running from cancer to bad breath. The latest says it may also help fight heart disease by lowering cholesterol.
Researchers at Vanderbilt University studied the impact of a 375-milligram pill containing green and black tea extracts, enriched with the antioxidant theaflavin, on 240 men and women. The subjects, all of whom were on a low-fat diet, were randomly assigned to receive either the pill or a placebo for 12 weeks. Those receiving the tea extract pill were given a high-antioxidant dosage, equivalent to seven cups of black tea and 35 cups of green tea.
The study authors say they were surprised to find a robust reaction -- a 16 percent cholesterol drop among the subjects who took the tea extract pill.
Although this reduction is not as high as is typically found with cholesterol-lowering drugs, it is an impressive result when compared to other non-pharmaceutical medications, says lead author Dr. David Maron, an assistant professor of medicine at Vanderbilt.
"While I wouldn't want to see this taken instead of a drug that's been indicated, I would like to see if this has an additive or synergistic effect," says Maron, whose findings appear in the June 23 issue of the Archives of Internal Medicine.
But because the researchers used a pill containing a "cocktail" of antioxidants, the study doesn't reveal which particular agent -- or combination of agents -- caused the subjects' cholesterol to drop, says Joe Vinson, a professor of chemistry at the University of Scranton in Pennsylvania.
"Because it's a mixture of things, we just don't know what the active ingredient is," he says.
While pleased with these intriguing results, Maron says further testing is needed to determine the long-term safety, the effective dosing range, and how the extract interacts with other cholesterol-lowering drugs.
"This study needs to be replicated in a different population of subjects," he says.
The finding adds to the growing body of research illuminating the broad health benefits of tea drinking. Other studies have suggested green and black tea possess anti-microbial, anti-cancer, and anti-aging properties.
"Tea has the most antioxidants of any beverage you could drink, and now we have this great cholesterol-lowering effect," says Vinson. He agrees, however, that tea drinking alone isn't enough to lower cholesterol if other lifestyle habits counteract its effects.
This caveat may explain why tea-drinking people like the British don't have particularly low cholesterol, he says.
"If you have a terrible diet, drink a lot of beer, smoke, and are overweight, tea isn't going to help you," he says.
Maron's study was funded by Nashai Biotech, a Nashville, Tenn.-based manufacturer of tea extract.
More information
Go to the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute for tips on how to keep your cholesterol down. Learn more about tea from the Tea Association of the United States of America.
