poisonous tea?

[answotti]

My dad says that tea is a slow poison. Is this true? Concerned as I have roughly ten brews a day.

[Ethel]

I doubt it very much - the British are a nation of tea drinkers, and all these pensioners now in their 80s and older have been brought up drinking it in vast quantities.

My own grandmother died just short of her 100th birthday and drank stewed tea all day every day.

[answotti]

Thanks Ethel. I'm off to make a nice cup of tea....

[Jennaandtea]

I drink also about ten cups or more a day..and acctually i've been feeling much better than how I used to be feeling. I've looked this up many times for the fact that I drink it so much. It's acctually quite good for you. ^^

[Rebecca611]

I'm not convinced you could call it 'poisoning', but tea contains tannins which (i've read) can start to strip the stomach lining if you drink alot of it. I like drinking tea, more so during the winter and especially builders tea. It is the strongest tea and I used to get stomach aches when drinking alot of cups. I recently found out that Earl Grey tea is the weakest and there are different grades (back of box, goes from 1 which is the weakest to 5 which is the strongest. I stick to Earl Grey now which also has a different flavour, however sometimes have a builders tea after a heavy night!!

[qapmoc]

It cant be so bad if the following is true -

Polyphenols in tea have been known to:

*Help protect cells from the normal, but damaging, physiological process known as "oxidative stress." Although oxygen is vital to life, it's also incorporated into reactive substances called free radicals. These can damage the cells in our body and have been implicated in the slow chain reaction of damage leading to heart disease and cancer.
*Help prevent blood clotting
*Help lower cholesterol levels
*Help neutralize enzymes that aid in the growth of tumors
*Help deactivate cancer promoters
*Help stimulate the immune system
*Tea also has fluoride for strong teeth, virtually no calories, and half the amount of caffeine found in an equally-sized cup of coffee. Whether decaffeinated tea has the same level of polyphenols, and thus the same health benefits, as regular tea has not yet been studied. Caffeine is a natural component of tea leaves. It is not yet known if removing caffeine also removes polyphenols.


Apart from polyphenols, tea also contains a variety of ingredients that are beneficial to one's health. These include theanine (an amino acid unique to tea), vitamins, minerals, and methylxanthines. These are the components that are the source of the healthful properties of tea. These are known to:

*Help fight against mutagenic agents
*Delay aging
*Help fight high blood pressure
*Help fight against viral and bacterial infection
*Help improve the functions of the digestive and excretory systems

[Catso]

Yes it is. All 4 of my garndparents used to drink it, and they're all dead now.