Fancy a cuppa?

On average in the UK, we drink three mugs a day of this glorious drink.  As with everything we consume there are various reports highlighting the good and the bad.  For tea we have the following:

The Bad:

• A case reported recently in the New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM) of  a 47 year old woman who developed brittle bones and lost all of her teeth after drinking too much tea.  (Defo bad.  However other studies show that you generally you need to drink a gallon a day for three decades to develop a reduction in bone quality.  Far too much tea for a day!)
• Research from the University of Glasgow found that men who drank more than seven or more cups of tea a day had a 50% higher risk of prostate cancer.  (However, the Glasgow study wasn't designed to show that drinking tea actually caused prostate cancer.  All it showed was an association). 
• Further bad, in 2009 a paper in the British Medical Journal showed that drinking very hot tea (70C or more) increased the likelihood of oesophageal cancer. (The National Cancer Institute in the US concludes that the evidence "isn't good enough to say tea either harms or helps our health'. However it might be best to wait for your tea to cool down for a few minutes).

The Good:

• Black tea may have healthy properties from its plant chemicals called polyphenols, which are antioxidants. If you are keen on antioxidants go for Green tea as it contains more polyphenols.
• A review of the evidence by the European Journal of Clinical Nutrition, found the research showed more than three cups of black tea a day reduced heart disease. It found no evidence of harm "in amounts typically consumed".

So, have a cuppa, but just try and avoid drinking more than a gallon a day.  Should be fairly manageable...

Source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2013/apr/01/is-drinking-tea-bad-for-you