Tea Drinkers Have Stronger Bones

If you’re a tea drinker, you’re doing something that will help to keep your bones stronger as you age.

A new study from Australian researchers found that women ages 70-85 who drank tea regularly had higher bone density in two sites in their hip compared to women who did not drink tea. The difference was 3% to 4.5%. Tea drinkers also lost 3% to 4.5 % less bone density over a 4-year period compared to non-drinkers.

Researchers know of two things in tea that help bones: polyphenols, (which include flavonoids) some of which have estrogen-like qualities; and fluoride, which helps keep teeth and bones strong. Green tea, which is a rich source of EGCG, also helps to keep bones strong by inhibiting bone reabsorption, part of the natural cycle of bone breakdown and rebuilding that is always occurring in our bodies.

Most of the women in this study were drinking black tea with milk, and the amount of tea they drank didn’t seem to matter, as long as they were drinking it regularly. (Devine, A, et al. Am J Clin Nutr, 2007: 86(4) 1243-7.)

As for milk, Scottish researchers recently found that adding it to tea doesn’t reduce absorption of beneficial polyphenols. They checked blood levels of these compounds in people after drinking tea both with and without milk, and found that blood levels increased significantly and were not affected by the addition of milk. (Lancet, June 2, 2007.) This results of this study contradict a German study we reported on several months ago. Click here to read that article.

Research suggests drinking two to three cups a day of tea is best for bone protection.

The results were presented at the Experimental Biology 2007 conference in Washington, D.C. 

Our High Antioxidant Green Tea Extract contains 450 mg of green tea of which 70% is EGCG. This is equal to the antioxidants in 3 cups of green tea. Careful, many green tea supplements only contain 20% to 40% EGCG. See related items below.