Green Tea Consumption may Lead to Longer Life, Study Shows

Drinking green tea – one of the most popular drinks in the world – may lead to reduced mortality rates, according to an 11-year-long study of a large population: more than 40,000 healthy Japanese men and women.

The study, conducted by doctors at Tohoku University’s Graduate School of Medicine and School of Public Policy, and recently published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, investigated the associations between green tea consumption and cardiovascular disease, cancer and all causes of death.

It concluded that the beverage is linked to reduced rates of cardiovascular disease and can be associated with overall lower mortality rates – but is not linked to cancer.

Compared with people who consumed less than one cup of green tea per day, those who consumed five or more cups per day had a 16 percent lower risk of death overall and, after seven years, 26 percent lower risk of death due to heart disease.

In addition, the study found that these results were most apparent in women. More specifically, women who consumed five or more cups of green tea per day had a 31 percent lower risk of cardiovascular-related death and 42 percent lower risk of death due to stroke. This decrease in stroke mortality was, in fact, the strongest association experts observed with green tea.

Throughout the study, women continually seemed to reap greater benefits of green tea than men. Experts suggest this is because the study’s female participants were not as likely as men to smoke cigarettes; as the relationship between green tea and reduced risks of heart disease was more profound in participants who had never smoked.

While the study indicates green tea consumption may indeed lead to lower mortality rates, it’s important to remember that the combination of exercising and eating right is number one when it comes to preventing disease and leading a long life. In Japan and other Eastern cultures, lifestyles and diets are considerably healthier than in other populations. Experts also noted that green tea is a popular drink choice in Japanese culture regardless of any perceived health benefits.

In fact, in northeastern Japan, where the study was primarily conducted, 80 percent of the population drinks green tea regularly and more than half of them consume three or more cups per day – simply because they like it, the study says.

The Japanese study was funded by Japan’s Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare – and does point out that further trials are ultimately necessary to confirm the protective effect of green tea on mortality.