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This is the effect of plain black tea on your cholesterol
Everyday black tea reduces the concentration of the 'bad cholesterol' LDL in your blood by 4 points. If your cholesterol level is too high, the effect is twice as strong.
Study
In 2015, researchers from Zhejiang University in China published a meta-study in which they aggregated and reanalyzed the results of 10 previously published trials. A total of 411 subjects participated in these trials. They had usually drunk a few cups of black tea or taken capsules containing black tea extract every day for 8 weeks.
Researchers then determined the effect of black tea on cholesterol levels. Black tea contains catechins that reduce the absorption of cholesterol in the intestine. According to animal studies, the gallate esters in tea in particular have this effect.
Results
Supplementation with black tea did not lead to a statistically significant decrease in the total amount of cholesterol and the 'good cholesterol' HDL. However, black tea did reduce the concentration of the 'bad cholesterol' LDL. With 4.6 points, to be precise.
If the researchers only looked at trials that had been conducted with subjects with an increased cardiovascular risk, the effect was greater. Then black tea reduced the concentration of LDL by 8.3 points.
Cardiologists assume that a decrease in the concentration of LDL by 1 point increases the risk of vascular disease by 1 percent.
Green tea
We previously wrote about the cholesterol-lowering effects of green tea. These are, according to a 2020 Chinese meta-study, identical to those of black tea.
Source:
Clin Nutr. 2015 Aug;34(4):612-9.
More:
Green tea improves cholesterol 08.07.2020
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