Tea is a staple part of any Brit's day. Now, new research has shown that a love for tea might help us live longer.
The research, conducted by the National Institutes of Health using data from the UK Biobank, revealed that 85% of half a million men and women between the ages of 40-69 drink tea regularly.
The study, published in the Annals of Internal Medicine, found that when compared to those don't drink tea, those who do have a lower risk of mortality from cardiovascular disease.
Here's what you need to know about the tea drinking habit and how it's good for your health.
Can tea really help you live longer?
According to the findings of the study, people who drank two or more cups of tea every day had between a 9% and 13% lower risk of mortality.
The study, which was conducted with a questionnaire from 2006 to 2010, found the results were the same for anyone who regularly consumed tea, regardless of whether they also drank coffee, added milk or sugar to their tea, or drank their tea at different temperatures.
What type of tea is most healthy?
Of the people who drank tea regularly, 89% said they drank black tea.
Similarly, since most of the studies had been done in Asia, green tea was also widely consumed.
Fernando Rodríguez Artalejo, professor of preventive medicine and public health at the Autonomous University of Madrid, said: "This article shows that regular consumption of black tea (the most widely consumed tea in Europe) is associated with a modest reduction in total and, especially, cardiovascular disease mortality over 10 years in a middle-aged, mostly white, adult general population.”
However, he added that the study doesn't establish that tea is the only cause for lower mortality, and there is no evidence to suggest those who don't drink tea should start doing so for better health.
He explained: "Studies should be done with repeated measurements of tea consumption over time and compare the mortality of those who do not consume tea on a sustained basis with that of those who have started to consume tea, or have increased their consumption over time, and those who have been drinking tea for years."
