Groene thee beschermt tegen vele ziektes.*
Groene
thee beschermt Japanners tegen vele ziektes. Dat meldt het wetenschappelijk team
van Shinichi Kuriyama van de universiteit Tohoku in Sendai. Hun onderzoek
verschijnt in het vakblad van de American Medical Association.
De medici hebben meer dan 40.000 mensen tussen 40 en 79 jaar in het noordoosten
van Japan onderzocht. In deze regio wordt bijzonder veel groene thee gedronken.
Tachtig procent van de bevolking drinkt thee en de helft daarvan weer meer dan
drie koppen per dag. Kuriyama en zijn collega's vergeleken over een periode van
elf jaar twee groepen met elkaar. De eerste groep dronk hoogstens een kop per
dag, de mensen uit de tweede groep kwamen dagelijks tot vijf koppen of meer.
Een van de resultaten is dat stevige theedrinkers tijdens de onderzoeksperiode
16 procent minder kans maakten om te sterven. Groene thee bevat onder andere
talrijke polyfenolen, boactieve stoffen,
waarvan het geneeskundig nut al veelvuldig is aangetoond.
Drink
Green Tea for Lower Risk of Heart Disease
-- Adults in Japan who consumed five or
more cups of green tea a day had a lower risk of death due to cardiovascular
disease, according to a new study.
Researchers from Japan examined the
association between green tea consumption and death due to cardiovascular
disease (CVD), cancer, and the overall death rate within a large population.
Eighty percent of the population in this region drinks green tea, and more than
half consume three or more cups a day.
The study included 40,350 adults in
northeastern Japan between 40 and 70 years of age. None of them had any history
of stroke, coronary heart disease, or cancer at the beginning of the study.
The participants in this study were
followed for 11 years, from 1995 to 2006. During the 11 years in which the study
took place, 4,209 participants died. More than 800 of the participants died of
cardiovascular disease, and 1,134 died of cancer.
Researchers then compared participants who
drank less than one cup of green tea a day to those who drank at least five cups
a day. Participants who consumed five or more cups a day had 16-percent lower
risk of CVD-related death .
The association between green tea
consumption and lower risk of CVD was higher among women. Of just the female
participants, those who consumed five or more cups a day had a 31-percent lower
risk of CVD-related death compared to those who drank less than one cup a day.
However, the researchers found no
association between green tea consumption and death from cancer. Black tea and
oolong tea were also involved in the study, but the associations were very weak.
SOURCE: The Journal of the American Medical Association, 2006; 296:1255-1265
(Sept. 2006)