Men’s health centre

Drinking tea may trim men's waistlines

29th January 2010 - Could a nice cup of tea be the secret to a trim waistline? For men, the answer may be yes, or at least it couldn't hurt.

A new study shows that men who drink more than two cups of tea a day have trimmer waistlines than men who drink coffee or nothing at all. Sadly, the same isn’t true for women.

Researchers say previous studies have looked at coffee and tea drinking habits and obesity in general, but little is known about how these habits affect abdominal obesity. Abdominal obesity, or excess fat around the middle, has been linked to a number of health risks, including heart disease and diabetes.

The study, presented this week at the First International Congress on Abdominal Obesity, held in Hong Kong, looked at the relationship between coffee and tea drinking and abdominal obesity in 3,823 adults who took part in the 2003-2004 US National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey.

"The potential association between coffee/tea and abdominal obesity is not trivial considering that more than 60% of the adult population drinks coffee/tea, that these beverages can be consumed as frequently as 10 times per day, and that a high percentage of coffee and tea drinkers use additives in these beverages," write the researchers from Queen's University in Ontario, Canada.

Tea drinking = trim waistline?

The results showed that coffee consumption wasn't related to abdominal obesity in men and women after adjusting for other risk factors.

The use of sugar compared with artificial sweeteners did seem to play a role in abdominal obesity.

In men, the use of sugar in tea was associated with a 2.5 cm smaller waist measurement, but the use of artificial sweeteners was linked to a nearly 4.7 cm larger waistline.

Among women, the use of milk in tea was associated with a 1.7 cm smaller waistline, but women who used artificial sweeteners had an average of 2.3 cm larger waistline.
Researchers say the role between tea drinking and a trim waistline in men and women merits further study.

Tea facts

Every day in the UK, we drink 165,000,000 cup of tea. These statistics were added up by the United Kingdom Tea Council, which is proud of the health benefits of its leaves.

It points out that tea contains half the amount of caffeine found in coffee and that tea is a natural source of fluoride that can help protect against tooth decay and gum disease.

In case you were wondering, 96% of all cups of tea drunk in the UK are brewed from tea bags. 98% of us have milk in our tea but only 30% take sugar.