Tea-loving Britons now have another reason to pick up a brew – as a new study suggests the the hot beverage can help remove toxic heavy metals from your water.
Tea leaves can trap lead cadmium, and other toxins during the brewing process as they bind to the leaves and stay as they are until thrown away, the researchers found.
They also suggested drinking tea could ward off heart disease as there is often a connection between cardiovascular disease and exposure to heavy metals.
Benjamin Shindel of Northwestern University, Illinois, who led the research, said: ‘It could help explain why populations that drink more tea may have lower incidence rates of heart disease and stroke.’
He added: ‘What is special about tea is that it’s the most consumed beverage in the world.
‘You could crush up all kinds of materials to get a similar metal-remediating effect, but that wouldn’t necessarily be practical.
‘With tea, people don’t need to do anything extra. Just put the leaves in your water and steep them, and they naturally remove metals.’
The longer the steeping time of different types of tea, tea bags and brewing methods, the more contaminants were removed.
Tea-loving Britons now have a reason to drink even more – as the hot beverage can help remove toxic heavy metals from your water, a study has suggested
While those who only brew their tea for a few seconds and will not get the health benefits.
Finely ground tea leaves, particularly black tea leaves, removed slightly more metal ions than whole leaves.
This is due to them having a greater surface area, the researchers said.
The results are published in the journal ACS Food Science & Technology.
Meanwhile, one study claimed that black tea could make you live longer.
A 2022 study published in the academic medical journal Annals of International Medicine found that among nearly half a million participants, there was a link between higher intake and lower mortality risk.
The study states: ‘During a median follow-up of 11.2 years, higher tea intake was modestly associated with lower all-cause mortality risk among those who drank two or more cups a day.’
The study was observational, meaning the participants’ tea intake was self-reported
