Tea without Milk is More Beneficial

Tea without milk is more beneficial, if you don't mind it black......

It is known that drinking tea can help to prevent cardiovascular disease. It now seems that this protective effect is negated if milk is added to the tea, so tea without milk is more beneficial.

Over three different sessions, sixteen post-menopausal women, mean age 59, were given either 500ml of Darjeeling tea, or boiled water to drink. The tea was either freshly brewed black tea, or black tea with 10% skimmed milk added. An ultrasound scan was used to measure artery cell function in the forearm, both before and two hours after drinking. Black tea was found to significantly improve the ability of the arteries to soften and relax, but this effect was absent when the tea was taken with milk: the protective catechins in the tea interacted with the milk proteins (caseins) inhibiting their effects. The milk additionally destroyed the antioxidant properties of the tea.

(Addition of milk prevents vascular protective effects of tea. European Heart Journal, on-line 9 January 2007.)

Author: Robin Costello

I offer traditional Chinese acupuncture in Exeter, from a tranquil clinic a mile from the city centre, and next to the University of Exeter. I graduated originally from the London School of Acupuncture and Traditional Chinese Medicine’s 3 year full time Acupuncture Diploma (DipAc) course. I am on the practitioners register of the British Acupuncture Council (MBAcC), a regulatory and professional body with an entry standard of a full three year undergraduate degree level training. I have worked in a hospital in south west China, deepening my knowledge and using acupuncture and Chinese massage (tuina) as the treatment of choice in its country of origin. I have taught Chinese medicine in colleges, the NHS and at university level. I also practise Qi Gong, and Chinese dietary therapy, that is the medicinal use of ordinary foods, chosen to help achieve particular therapeutic effects in different individuals.