Tea Benefits Bone Density in Elderly Women

PERTH, Australia—A five-year study, aimed at determining the relationship of tea consumption with the preservation of hip structure in older women, provided additional evidence of the beneficial effects of tea on bone density (Am J Clin Nutr.2007;86:1243-47). Researchers from the University of Western Australia and colleagues from EdithCowanUniversity in Perth used cross-sectional and longitudinal study designs to examine the relation of tea consumption with hip structure. A group of 1,500 randomly selected women, aged 70 to 85 years, participated in the prospective trial to evaluate whether oral calcium supplements prevented osteoporotic fractures. Areal bone mineral density (aBMD), an independent predictor for osteoporotic hip fracture, was measured at years one and five, with dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA). A cross-sectional analysis of 1,027 participants at year five assessed the relation of tea intake, measured by using a questionnaire, with aBMD. Later analysis of 164 participants analyzed the relation of tea intake at baseline, measured by using a 24-hour dietary recall, with change in aBMD from years one to five.

Results of the cross-sectional analysis found total hip aBMD was 2.8 percent greater in tea drinkers than in non-tea drinkers; according to the prospective analysis over the course of four years, tea drinkers lost an average of 1.6 percent of total hip aBMD, while non-tea drinkers lost 4 percent.