Issue link: https://read.dmtmag.com/i/491365
64 STiR tea & coffee industry international Unhealthy Sidekicks Researchers from the Mayo Clinic suggest coffee has been blamed for many ills that are associated with related activities. Dr. Donald Hensrud, M.D., in an article on the Mayo Clinic website said that "recent studies have generally found no connection between coffee and an increased risk of cancer or heart disease. In fact, most studies find an associa- tion between coffee consumption and decreased overall mortality and possibly cardiovascular mortality, although this may not be true in younger people who drink large amounts of coffee." Is coffee good for you? "The best answer may be that for most people the health benefits outweigh the risks," he writes. "Earlier studies didn't always take into account that known high-risk behaviors, such as smoking and physical inactivity, tended to be more common among heavy coffee drinkers," he writes. Learn more at Expert Answers: www.mayoclinic.org Ill Effect on Nadolol? A report in the journal Clinical Phar- macology & Therapeutics suggests that consumption of green tea may impact the absorption of nadolol, a blood pres- sure medication. Researchers from Europe and Japan developed the study after previous data indicated that rats who consumed green tea extract were less able to absorb this blood pressure medication. Ten volun- teers were given either water or green tea each day of the two week study. They were then given a dose of the beta blocker nadolol. After a rest period of two weeks, the study was repeated with the volunteers switching to the opposite beverage. Blood samples were taken to mea- sure the concentration of the medication in the blood stream. When volunteers drank green tea, there was 76% less nad- olol in the blood than when they con- sumed water. Nadolol was also found in significantly lower amounts in the urine. Researchers believe that this indicates that the medication was absorbed less in green tea drinkers. Further lab analysis led researchers to believe that the antioxidant EGCG may be affecting the proteins that move the drug into the cells. Although the study was small, the results were concerning enough that they recom- mended abstaining from green tea consumption while taking this drug until further studies can be done. Tea Lowers Diabetes Risk The Journal of Nutrition in January pub- lished the first large-scale human stud- ies to look at how substances found in tea, chocolate and berries can protect people against diabetes. The disease has reached frightening levels in the developed countries of the world. "Our research looked at the ben- efits of eating certain sub-groups of flavanoids. We focused on flavones, which are found in herbs and vegeta- bles such as parsley, thyme and celery, and anthocyanins, found in berries, red grapes, wine and other red or blue- colored fruits and vegetables," study leader Aedin Cassidy, of the University of East Anglia in England, said in a university news release. The study included nearly 2,000 healthy women in the U.K. who com- pleted food questionnaire and were tested for levels of blood sugar, insulin resistance and inflammation, according to a report on the WebMD website. Earlier research that took place in laboratories suggested that these types of foods might affect blood sugar, which plays a role in type 2 diabe- tes risk, she noted. However, it was unknown how regular consumption of these ingredients might affect a per- son's blood glucose and inflammation levels and insulin resistance, Cassidy said in the news release. In the release co-author Tim Spec- tor, of King's College London, said the study suggests "that some components of foods that we consider unhealthy like chocolate or wine may contain some beneficial substances. If we can start to identify and separate these substances we can potentially improve healthy eating." Staying Hydrated with Tea It would be hard to avoid the message that everyone should be drinking more water – eight 8-ounce glasses each day. Right? Not necessarily. The concept of "8 by 8" became ingrained in society, as did the belief that only water would do. Common wisdom was that tea would make a person more dehydrat- ed, in need of additional water intake. Unfortunately, even though this idea has been proven to be untrue, many people have not gotten the message. According to the Institute of Medicine, drinking any beverage con- taining water will help keep the body hydrated. Happily, this list includes tea. "We should be telling people that bev- erages like tea and coffee contribute to a person's fluid needs and despite their caffeine content, do not lead to dehydration," wrote Spero Tsindos from La Trobe University's Depart- ment of Dietetics & Human Nutrition in the June 2012 Australian and New Zealand Journal of Public Health. A study sponsored by the UK Tea Advisory Panel corroborated these statements. Researchers assembled 21 volunteers who would consume four cups of tea on one day of the study and four cups of hot water on the oth- er day of the study. (Some participants began with tea and the rest began with the water. Each person switched for the second day.) Hydration levels were measured using blood and urine sam- ples. Researchers found no differences in hydration levels in the participants whether they consumed water or tea. Read more in The Telegraph. Expectant Mother Tea Limits Expectant and nursing mothers should "severely limit" their consumption of many teas according to a study by the University of Alberta. Even very small amounts are harmful. Consumption risks disrupting the neurological development of fetuses, whose brains are particularly suscepti- ble to foreign substances, according to a report in the National Post of Canada. The research study, published in the Journal of Toxicology, tested tea in tea bags, noting that the greatest concen- tration of heavy metals was measured in tea from China. "We were quite surprised," said Dr. Gerry Schwalfenberg, the Ed- monton physician who co-authored the research. "If you drink three or four cups a day, which a lot of people do, you're getting too much [lead] for baby," he told the National Post. To Your Health