Milk Cancels Tea’s Cardiovascular Benefits

Tea has been hailed as a health drink for centuries. Even in coffee-drinking America, one can see people drinking tea in the hopes of living longer because it is chock full of anti-oxidants. Now, a study from Germany suggests that the cardiovascular benefits of tea drinking are cancelled by adding milk to the brew. Not surprising from a country where beer is called "liquid bread."

First things first. Tea comes in only four varieties: white, green, oolong and black (sometimes called red). The difference comes from the differences in processing the leaves. White tea is made from young leaves that have undergone no oxidation; green comes from leaves that have undergone minimal oxidation; oolong from leaves that have been oxidized more than green but less than black, which undergoes the most. Tea is made from the camellia sinensis plant, the only source of tea. Chamomile, rosehip and Red Zinger aren’t teas regardless of their packaging. One can’t make coffee from burned grain, and one can’t make tea from herbs, spices or fruit.

Adding milk, lemon and sugar to proper tea is a rather European invention, originally unknown in China and elsewhere in Asia. Adding anything to white, green or oolong tends to overpower the taste of the tea. Black tea holds up much better, and milk and sugar can reduce some of the acidic and astringent flavor some dislike. Lemon, on the other hand, is plain better in iced tea than hot – another drink entirely.

Dr. Mario Lorenz, a molecular biologist and co-author of the German study, told Reuters, “We found that, whereas drinking tea significantly increased the ability of the artery to relax and expand to accommodate increased blood flow compared with drinking water, the addition of milk completely prevents the biological effect.” Dr. Verena Stangl, a researcher at the Charite Hospital at the University of Berlin in Mitte, added, “The beneficial effects of drinking black tea are completely prevented by the addition of milk. If you want to drink tea to have the beneficial health effects, you have to drink it without milk. That is clearly shown by our experiments.”

On the other hand, past studies have demonstrated that the tannin in tea is a cause of esophageal cancer. However, the addition of milk to the tea actually binds the tannin and renders it harmless. As a result, the British have a much lower rate of throat cancer than one might otherwise suspect. The one part of Britain where high rates of throat cancer do crop up is the West Country, where folks drink rather a lot of hard cider, which has lots of tannin and to which no sane person has ever added milk.

And by the way, Mr. George Orwell notwithstanding, the milk goes in first.

© Copyright 2007 by The Kensington Review, Jeff Myhre, PhD, Editor. No part of this publication may be reproduced without written consent. Produced using Fedora Linux.

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