Drinking tea is bad for the heart？ Actually, it’s the wrong way

　　China is the hometown of tea. Chinese has discovered and used tea for thousands of years, and many people like drinking tea very much. However, there is news on the Internet recently that drinking tea is bad for the heart and may even lead to heart disease. Is it true?/You don’t say.

　　In fact, drinking tea is not bad for the heart, and it may even be beneficial — — This should start with the special ingredients in tea. Tea is usually rich in flavonoid antioxidants, such as tea polyphenols and catechins, which give tea an attractive fragrance. In addition, tea also contains a lot of caffeine. In the process of making tea, some of these substances will dissolve into the tea. Therefore, tea is actually a drink containing a variety of plant antioxidants and caffeine.

　　Tea is rich in antioxidant substances such as tea polyphenols, which can scavenge human free radicals and have certain benefits to health. Judging from a large number of current studies, drinking tea is good for the heart and cardiovascular system — — It may significantly reduce the risk of heart disease and stroke by reducing low-density lipoprotein cholesterol ("bad cholesterol").

　　A study in Journal of American Heart Association took six years to analyze the relationship between the change of high density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) level in the blood of more than 80,000 Chinese and drinking tea. The results show that the HDL-C level of people who insist on drinking tea for a long time decreases more slowly, and the risk of cardiovascular diseases decreases by 8%, which is beneficial to cardiovascular health.

　　China’s "Food and Health-Scientific Evidence and Consensus" summarizes and analyzes the research on tea and health, and thinks that drinking tea can reduce the risk of diabetes, stroke and cardiovascular diseases. Therefore, it can be considered that drinking tea is not only harmless to the heart, but also beneficial.

　　However, because tea contains caffeine, some people drink too much tea, which will lead to discomfort such as palpitations, so some people worry that drinking tea is not good for the heart. In fact, this is a normal phenomenon, which is called "tea drunk" by the people. As long as you drink it in moderation, there will be no problem.

　　At present, the international research on caffeine is relatively sufficient, and authoritative health institutions believe that moderate drinking of coffee and caffeine will not cause damage to the heart. For example, the American Heart Association, the European Heart Association, the Australian National Institute of Health and Medical Research and other institutions believe that healthy adults drinking coffee in moderation (1 to 2 cups a day, about 200 milligrams of caffeine) will not increase the risk of heart disease and cardiovascular disease.

　　Compared with coffee, there is much less caffeine in tea. The caffeine content in a cup of tea is usually only 40 to 80 mg, which is less than half that of an equivalent cup of coffee. Therefore, it is no problem to drink 3 to 4 cups of light tea, such as white tea and green tea every day; For some strong tea, such as black tea, the caffeine content will be more, but drinking 2 cups will not be a problem. Of course, if your heart and head are really uncomfortable after drinking tea, try not to drink or drink less.

　　According to the data of China Cardiovascular Disease Report 2017, the number of cardiovascular patients in China has reached 290 million, and cardiovascular deaths account for 40% of the deaths of residents, which is higher than tumors and other diseases, ranking first; Moreover, the morbidity and mortality are still on the rise. From the current research, maybe drinking some tea every day can also reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease, which is beneficial to the body.

　　It is worth noting that many people may drink tea in the wrong way. How can drinking tea be beneficial to health?

　　First, don’t drink too much tea or drink too much tea. Drinking a lot of tea, in addition to too much and too strong caffeine intake, tannic acid in tea may also affect the absorption of iron, which is not good for health — — It is recommended not to drink more than 4 cups of tea every day. Second, drinking tea every day is best arranged in the afternoon, not too late, so as not to affect sleep. What needs special reminder is that you should try to stay away from sugary tea drinks. At present, there is no evidence that sugary tea drinks also have cardiovascular protection. Therefore, tea drinks should not be used instead of drinking tea, let alone deliberately drinking tea drinks to protect cardiovascular health.

　　(The author is Ruan Guangfeng, Director of Science and Technology Department of Food Nutrition and Information Exchange Center)