Tea and heart-protection

Heart disease is largely preventable. Although you can't change some risk factors, such as age and heredity, you can reduce or control others by making wise choices.

Tea, especially green tea, is high in polyphenols-compounds with strong antioxidant activity that in test-tube and animal models show anticancer and heart-protective effects. Tea relaxes blood vessels, inhibits blood clots which can trigger a heart attack or stroke, and helps to improve blood-cholesterol levels.

A combined analysis of 13 published studies at the University of North Carolina found an estimated 11 percent lower rate of heart attacks among participants who drank three of more cups of tea per day. A Dutch study, involving more than 3,400 people without cardiovascular disease, found that the risk of developing severe atherosclerosis, which can lead to hear attack or stroke, was 46 percent lower for participants who drank one to two cups of tea per day. Japanese researchers found similar results in a study of 393 people, 70 percent with atherosclerosis: Study participants who drank one or more cups of tea per day were 42 percent less likely to have a heart attack.

Further studies by researchers at the Boston University School of Medicine show that tea may help those who already have heart disease, and even short term tea drinking seems to improve blood-vessel functioning in patients with coronary heart disease. A recent study led by Harvard University researchers indicates that drinking roughly two cups of tea per week may reduce the risk of dying after a heart attack. The more tea the subjects drank in the year before they had a heart attack, the better their chances of long term survival.