Two new research papers supporting the health benefits of drinking black tea were presented today at the first-ever Epidemiology Congress 2001, a joint meeting of Canadian and American scientific societies. The first paper, a national cross-sectional study of 1,764 women in Saudi Arabia, shows that tea drinkers are 19 percent less likely to suffer from cardiovascular disease(1). A second epidemiological paper presented at the conference shows that tea consumption is associated with a lower risk of rectal cancer in Moscow women(2).

The Saudi women who consumed black tea had total cholesterol, triglycerides and LDL measures that were significantly lower than non-tea drinkers. The most marked reduction in blood lipid levels was observed in women who consumed six or more cups of tea a day.

"This paper is important in showing that daily black tea consumption has a measured protective effect on the blood lipid risk factors for heart disease," according to Iman Hakim, M.D., Ph.D., the lead researcher from the University of Arizona. "We were able to demonstrate a significant inverse relationship between tea drinking and blood lipid levels and that tea drinking can potentially affect the incidence of heart disease in a large group of women. This certainly seems to point to a protective effect of regular tea drinking on heart health that warrants further investigation."

A second epidemiologic research paper presented today by Dora Il'yasova, who was awarded a student competition prize, also supports potential health benefits related to black tea consumption. This population-based, case-control study of 663 patients with rectal cancer and 323 randomly selected controls supports tea's potential in the prevention of rectal cancer. The study found that higher levels of tea drinking were associated with lower risk of rectal cancer among the Moscow population. This association between tea consumption and the lower risk of rectal cancer was stronger among Moscow women than in men.

"The statistical modeling of the Moscow data suggests that this difference in risk reduction between genders can be partially explained by the overwhelming harmful effect of alcohol consumption among Moscow men," said Dora Il'yasova.

Epidemiology Congress 2001 is the first North American scientific congress to be jointly sponsored by four major epidemiology organizations, the Canadian Society for Epidemiology and Biostatistics, the Society for Epidemiologic Research, the American College of Epidemiology and the American Public Health Association Epidemiology Section. The Congress brings together a larger number of epidemiologists than any previous meeting.

(1) I.A. Hakim, M.A. Alsair, O. Al-Attas. Cross Sectional study of effects of drinking black tea on cardiovascular disease among Saudi women. Presented at Epidemiology Congress in Toronto on June 16, 2001.

(2) Il'yasova D, Arab L, Martinchik A, Sdvizhkov A, Urbanovich L, Weisgerber UM. Black tea consumption and risk of rectal cancer in Moscow population. (Manuscript submitted to the American Journal of Epidemiology.)