Scientists from Guilan University of Medical Sciences found that drinking green or black tea may help lower blood pressure.
The health benefits of green tea have been found for many chronic diseases, including different types of cancer, heart disease, and liver disease.
Many of these beneficial effects of green tea are related to its catechin, a type of compound very abundant in tea, cocoa, and berries.
Drinking green tea for a long time could be beneficial against high-fat diet-induced obesity and type 2 diabetes and could reduce the risk of heart disease.
Previous research has found that drinking black tea is an excellent option if you are looking for an alternative to coffee or energy drinks.
Black tea is not only a non-sweetened or less-calorie drink but also provides several health benefits as it contains powerful groups of micronutrients that naturally occur in plants.
Black tea also contains several other catechins or flavonoids which provide protection against the onset of several chronic disorders.
Studies have found that drinking black tea has a range of health benefits as it contains lots of powerful antioxidants and other compounds which have the potential to decrease inflammation and reduce the risk for the onset of chronic diseases.
Many researchers have examined the effects of tea drinking on high blood pressure, which is a big risk factor for heart disease.
In the study, the team aimed to review the health effects of black or green tea as a beverage in people with elevated blood pressure.
Elevated blood pressure is likely to worsen and develop into high blood pressure.
High blood pressure can damage your organs and increase the risk of several conditions including a heart attack, heart failure, stroke, and kidney failure.
The team examined five published clinical studies that included 408 people between February 1, 1995, and July 20, 2019.
They found that regular tea drinking resulted in a reduction in systolic blood pressure (-4.81 mmHg) and diastolic blood pressure (-1.98 mmHg).
The team also found that the longer the duration of tea intake (e.g., longer than three months), the higher the decrease in both blood pressure numbers.
The researchers also examined the effect of tea type. They found that the blood-pressure-lowering effects of green tea were stronger compared to black tea.
None of the studies reported any side effects.
These results suggest that a regularly drinking team may help lower blood pressure in people with elevated blood pressure.
The team says that doctors, health care providers, and particularly people with high blood pressure should consider it.
One limitation of the study is that the reviewed research mainly focused on people with elevated blood pressure.
Future work needs to see if drinking green or black tea could help people with high blood pressure manage their health condition.
The research is published in Complementary Therapies in Medicine and was conducted by Marjan Mahdavi-Roshan et al.
Copyright © 2022 Scientific Diet. All rights reserved.
