Drinking Tea Keeps Blood Pressure Down -- Study

[RedEarth]

CHICAGO (Reuters) - Drinkers of green and oolong tea are less likely to develop high blood pressure than nondrinkers, a Taiwanese study said on Monday.

The risk of hypertension, a condition that can lead to heart disease and stroke, declined the more green or oolong tea was consumed regularly, the study by researchers from National Cheng Kung University in Tainan, Taiwan, said.


Some varieties of tea contain 4,000 chemical compounds, including flavonoids that help protect against heart attacks, strokes and kidney failure, study author Yi-Ching Yang wrote in the report published in The Archives of Internal Medicine (news - web sites).


None of the 1,500 participants suffered from hypertension at the start of the study, and those who drank between 120 and 599 milliliters (4 to 20 fluid ounces) of tea per day for at least a year prior had a 46 percent lower risk of developing high blood pressure than nondrinkers.

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=594&ncid=594&e=7&u=/nm/20040726/hl_nm/health_tea_dc

[bif]

1. I wonder how it effects someone who already has high blood pressure?

Anyone know?

[wicket]

2. I'm not sure

But I'm going to start drinking more tea to be on the safe side. I was put on medication for high blood pressure 2 weeks ago. *sigh*

[RedEarth]

4. You might want to do some further research as well as check with your

Dr.. I don't have high blood pressure, however, I've been drinking green tea(2-3 cups/day) for the last 15 years....perhaps that helped, since my brother does have high blood pressure. I hate to admit it, but I started drinking green tea when I heard that Bush 41 drank it and really liked it....thought I would give it a try and have been hooked on it since then.

Dr. Andrew Weil has some information on alternative therapies for a variety of aliments on his web site......needless to say, prior to trying check with your Dr. first.

[bif]

8. Well, my doctor is pretty old school

So I don't know how much he's up on the benefits of green tea. I'll have to ask him about it. Thanks.

[ixion]

3. I gave up soda pop years ago for tea and juice...

And I'm really happy that I did. :-)

I used to be a several Big Gulp© a day Mountain Dew© drinker, and I can tell you first hand that that stuff will eat you up inside.

[RedEarth]

5. Speaking of pop....I heard on NPR, the ph factor of water is a 7, the ph

factor of battery acid is a one and the ph factor of pop is 2-3....sounds like it might tear up your insides.

[LibLabUK]

7. Hmm...

pH is a logarithmic scale, therefore pH 1 is ten times more acidic than pH 2.

Incidentally, battery acid has a pH of 0.8, so it is significantly more acidic than carbonated soft drinks (pop/soda... whatever you guys call them) which average around 2-3.

Then we have to look at the body.

The stomach contains HCl which is at a concentration which gives a pH of about 1. The lining of the stomach is quite resistant to this.. although there are circumstances where this may not be the case (H. pylori infections which can cause ulcers is such an instance). Bile raises the pH of the chyme (the product of stomach juice and food) as it enters the small intestine.. protecting the small intestine from the acidity of the stomach, and raising the pH to a level at which the enzymes of the small intestine can work.

So, drinking carbonated soft drinks won't do you significant harm... at least not from their acidity.

[RedEarth]

10. Actually, I should have mentioned, the person that stated this

was a dentist and he was referring to the damage he felt was done to the teeth by low ph drinks....in this case soda pop. Said he could always tell when his patients drank alot of pop.

[ixion]

12. well, I got a pretty nasty case of gastritis from soda...

At least that's what the doc had told me. :shrug:

[muriel_volestrangler]

9. Your stomach contents are naturally acidic

more so than pop (one sign of bulimia is said to be tooth decay cause by all the vomit). Whether these figures are absolutely correct or not, I can't say - I also found a site estimating Coke as a bit less acidic than lemon juice, but more so than orange juice:

1 stomach acid

2 lemon juice

3 vinegar,coca-cola

4 tomatoes

5 black coffee

6 urine

7 pure water, blood, tears

http://trevorcroll.tripod.com/health/ph.htm

since the pH scale is logarithmic, this means Coke contains about 100th the acid of the same amount of stomach acid. Your insides will be OK (apart from maybe your mouth - and the acid produced by bacteria digesting the sugar in normal Coke probably has more of an effect on that).

[Buck Turgidson]

6. Try China White Tea

China white tea is a very special version of green tea. It's expensive, but packed with anti-oxidants. You can reuse the tea leaves over and over. I've done it up to 5 times, but some people claim that the best brew comes after the tenth steeping.

Regardsless of the health claims, China White Tea tastes wonderful.

[lostnfound]

25. I like red tea. But best thing to do with tea is throw it in the harbor.

As one of the Democratic speakers mentioned last night. :)

[Sabriel]

11. It ain't helping me

Since the Selection of 2000, my BP is on the rise. I guess I need to be hooked up to a tea tanker with an IV.

[VolcanoJen]

13. Ya know, the Beatles often referred to marijuana as "tea."

Just sayin'. ;-)

[amazona]

14. I'll retain my skepticism

I'm not impressed that the researchers are entirely disinterested in the results.

[Massacure]

15. I drink lots of iced tea.

I wonder how that compares to green tea and oolong tea.

[havocmom]

16. Make iced tea with oolong. It is wonderful

I make sun tea with oolong and even non iced tea drinkers say they really like it.

Also make sun tea to ice with real raspberry leaves. Mild muscle relaxant so dfinking it in the evening does not keep me up like the oolong does in the evening. I am very sensitive to chemicals so need to be careful.

I know a small pot of green or oolong in the afternoon makes me feel better: relaxed yet alert, stops the afternoon slump I generally have and seems to keep my metabolism from bottoming out.

Also, consider that just taking the time to stop and enjoy tea is good for you. Savor it as you make and brew it. Enjoy the wonderful scent of it. Make a blessing over the tea and yourself as you get ready for he first sip. Know you are doing a good thing for yourself. Take those few minutes for yourself and you will have much more to give for the rest of the day.

[RedEarth]

17. Do you ever make your own chai?

About thirty years ago and fellow from India showed me how to make chai and it is outstanding hot or cold. Very relaxing....I also think I sleep better when I drink some chai in the evening(I use decaf Darjeeling). There are many recipes and many place to order spices in bulk on the internet.

[havocmom]

18. not fond of it for some reason

like my tea straight. Guess I am just a purist.

[silverlib]

19. Recommended for lowering cholesterol

My MD suggests the following alternatives to prescription drugs. She reports that for minimally high cholesterol, this will work in about 90 days to get it back into normal range. Of course, this is also in addition to every doctors' favorite work - "exercise."

One daily:

green tea
clove of garlic
small serving of almonds (8-12)
oatmeal
soy

twice a week

fish or fish oil tablets daily.

I take a green tea bag and another flavored tea and mix them together, as I don't care for the taste of green tea alone.

[Princess Turandot]

20. Oat Bran

Consider cooked oat bran rather than oatmeal. It has twice as much dietary fiber as oatmeal and abt 1/3 less calories.It's the soluble dietary fiber that helps cholesterol, not the insoluble form.It tastes very much like oatmeal - you just need to get used to the texture, which is more like cream of wheat. Another thing which works well, believe it or not, is Metamucil, which has a lot of soluble fiber in it. You can buy the orange flavor and your system adjusts to its other impact pretty quickly.

Flaxseed meal or oil are also good substitutes for the fish oil, although the fish oil has more omega3/6 oils in it. Check the labels, you may need to take a lot more fish oil capsules than you think you do. Plus, flax seeds have no natural cholesterol ( a tablespoon of salmon oil has 66 mg of cholesterol and also has twice the calories of an equivalent amount of flaxseeds.)Flax is believed to help reduce triglycerides. My new internist recommends and uses flax seeds. If you use them,you need to use the meal or grind the seeds.

A few years ago, I was able to bring my cholesterol down about 10-12% primarily by consuming a lot of soluble fiber. (My levels did not appear to be food related.) As soon as I stopped using so much fiber, in part because cooked cereal in the summer gets tiresome, it went back up again.Over the last year, my cholesterol shot up tremendously, and after 6 weeks on the lowest dose of lipitor (10 mg) and flaxseeds, it dropped down to normal levels. (My overall level dropped by 35%.)

You might not be into the flaxseeds, but the oatbran vs the oatmeal really is a large difference!

[RedEarth]

23. Welcome Princess......good post

Sounds like you and I have been on somewhat the same program for cholesterol....oat bran, ground flax seed and fish oil tablets. Over the last several years I've been able to keep my cholesterol within the recommended range...however, it is a struggle.

BTW, I also use Metamucil twice a day and oat bran once a day. I mix ground flax seeds with oat bran and drink it....that way it goes down in about 10 seconds.

Best of luck controlling your cholesterol.

[newyawker99]

24. Hi PrincessTurandot!!

Welcome to DU!! :toast:

[NashVegas]

21. I Average About 115/65

As a plain old Earl Grey (yellow?) drinker. But I don't really know it's got anything to do with the tea, there is no history of stroke in my family.

[slackmaster]

22. I thought owning cats was supposed to keep the BP down

Don't believe a word of it.