Coffee Versus Tea: What’s Better For Your Health?
Coffee addicts and tea lovers have long debated which brew is better for you, but the age-old battle between the nation’s favourite hot beverages may finally have a winner.
The latest studies on both beverages reveal tea is tops when it comes to offering the most health benefits.
However, coffee drinkers should not despair because the latest pan-European research, following a study of more than 500,000 people over 16 years, has shown that those who drank the most coffee had a reduced risk of premature death from any cause.
For a longer life though, an Australian study published in The Journal of Clinical Nutrition in 2015 revealed regular tea drinkers lived longer than average.
According to the study, women in their 70s and 80s lived longer if they had the equivalent of two cups of tea a day.
This may be due to a unique compound in tea that can change the body’s genetic code.
While both drinks contain plenty of antioxidants called polyphenols, The Coffee Lover’s Diet best-selling author Bob Arnot said coffee contained two-and-a-half times more polyphenols than tea on average.
“We know now that the driving force behind many illnesses such as heart disease and stroke is inflammation, which is something polyphenols can help with,” he said.
While both coffee and tea have been linked to reduced cardiovascular diseases, Dutch research found that tea provided better heart health.
The research, published in Arteriosclerosis, Thrombosis and Vascular Biology: Journal of the American Heart Association in 2010, found that drinking more than six cups of tea a day was associated with a 36 per cent lower risk of heart disease compared to those who drank less than a single cup.
Meanwhile, coffee drinkers with two to four cups a day had a 20 per cent lower risk of heart disease compared to those drinking less than two or more than four.
Coffee could be best for the digestive system, with researches at the University of Southern California reporting last April that coffee consumption cuts the risk of colorectal cancer.
For alertness, weight-loss and bone strength, studies reveal green tea may beat coffee.
But Curtin University School of Public Health nutritionist Amelia Harray said that with so many varieties of tea and coffee, it was hard to accurately distinguish which beverage offered more health benefits.
“Even the way in which tea and coffee is prepared can influence its nutritional value and also the origin of the coffee itself so beans from different areas contain more antioxidants,” she said.
“What we do know from all the evidence is it’s not dangerous to drink tea and coffee if you’re an adult and if you’re not pregnant and breastfeeding or have another specific condition.”
Mrs Harray said it was difficult to get a clear indication of health benefits from studies on tea and coffee because nutrition was such an elaborate field.
“Diet is really complex so, for example, someone might drink green tea but is someone who drinks green tea just more likely to eat more fruit and more vegetables, which could be having the effect of weight-loss as opposed to the green tea itself.”
Story Credit: https://thewest.com.au/lifestyle/health-wellbeing/coffee-versus-tea-whats-better-for-your-health-ng-b88575982z
