Drinking Tea Shown to Reduce Heart Disease

Tea drinkers have the edge when it comes to cutting heart-attack risk, researchers say.

Writing in the American Journal of Epidemiology, scientists at Harvard Medical School and Boston's Brigham and Women's Hospital say high levels of strong antioxidants such as flavonoids may help cut "bad" cholesterol.

Their study of more than 680 healthy individuals and those who had suffered heart attacks indicates a 46 percent cut in heart attack risk among those choosing tea as the drink of choice.

What about coffee drinkers? No reduction or increase in risk, researchers say. And it doesn't matter whether the choice is decaffeinated or high-test. The scientists say higher tea usage "may be a surrogate for a healthier lifestyle," pointing out that heavy coffee users also may be heavy smokers.