A new study has suggested that one of the keys to living a longer life is to drink at least two cups of tea per day.
In what is news that’s bound make the day of tea drinkers nationwide, according to some newly-conduced research published in the Annals of Internal Medicine, people who drink two or more cups of tea daily are likely to live longer than those who do not drink any – and apparently, it doesn’t matter how you like to brew your cup either.
Despite the temperature it’s drunk at, and regardless of whether you take it black, or with milk and sugar, the study found that the positive affects of tea appear unaffected.
Genetic variants that influence the rate people metabolise caffeine were also found to not affect tea’s beneficial properties.
So, how was the research conducted then? And can we take it as the truth?
ADVERTISEMENT
Well, the study was carried out by researchers from the National Institutes of Health using data from the UK Biobank, alongside a questionnaire that was answered by participants between 2006 to 2010, and followed up on more than a decade.
Researchers found that 85% of the 500,000 or so men and women aged 40 to 69 report that they regularly drink tea, and of those, 89% said they drank black tea.
In a middle-aged and mostly white adult general population, the research suggested that regular consumption of black tea was associated with between a 9% and 13% reduction in mortality over 10 years.
New study claims drinking at least two cups of tea a day helps you live longer / Credit: iStock
This was especially true in terms of cardiovascular disease.
ADVERTISEMENT
The findings from the study have been described as representing “a substantial advance in the field”, according to Fernando Rodríguez Artalejo, who is a professor of preventive medicine and public health at the Autonomous University of Madrid.
Professor Artalejo did however make sure to state that the study does not definitively establish that tea is the cause of the lower early mortality, as it can’t exclude that this is down to other health factors associated with tea consumption, and the question of whether people who don’t drink tea should start doing so to improve their health also remains unanswered at this point.
“Studies should be done with repeated measurements of tea consumption over time,” he explained.
“[They should] 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.”
Featured Image – Flickr
Trending
‘The average cost of a pint’ in the UK by region, according to the latest data
Danny Jones
Does it feel like pints keep getting more and more expensive almost every week at this point? Yes. Yes, it does, and while you can’t expect a city as big as Manchester to be one of the cheapest places to get one in the UK, we do often wonder how it compares to other parts of the country.
Well, as it happens, someone has recently crunched the numbers for us across the nation, breaking down which regions pay the most and the least for their pints.
The data has been examined by business management consultancy firm, CGA Strategy, using artificial intelligence and information from the latest Retail Price Index figures to find out what the ‘average cost of a pint’ is down south, up North and everywhere in between.
While the latest statistics provided by the group aren’t granular enough to educate us on Greater Manchester’s pint game exactly, we can show you how our particular geographic region is looking on the leaderboard at the moment.
That’s right, we Mancunians and the rest of the North West are technically joint mid-table when it comes to the lowest average cost of a pint, sharing the places from 3rd to 8th – according to CGA, anyway.
Powered by consumer intelligence company, NIQ (NielsenIQ) – who also use AI and the latest technology to deliver their insights – we can accept it might seem like it’s been a while since you’ve paid that little for a pint, especially in the city centre, but these are the stats they have published.
Don’t shoot the messenger, as they say; unless, of course, they’re trying to rob you blind for a bev. Fortunately, we’ve turned bargain hunting at Manchester bars into a sport at this point.
We might not boast the lowest ‘average’ pint cost in the UK, but we still have some bloody good places to keep drinking affordable.
London tops the charts (pretends to be shocked)
While some of you may have scratched your eyes at the supposed average pint prices here in the North West, it won’t surprise any of you to see that London leads the way when it came to the most expensive pint when it came to average cost in the UK.
To be honest, £5.44 doesn’t just sound cheap but virtually unheard of these days.
CGA has it that the average cost of a beer in the British capital is actually down 15p from its price last September, but as we all know, paying upwards of £7 for a pint down that end of the country is pretty much par for the course the closer you get to London.
Yet more reason you can be glad you live around here, eh? And in case you thought you were leaving this article with very little, think again…
Benson Boone has announced a headline gig in Manchester – and it’s a big one
Danny Jones
American pop sensation and unrivalled king of unnecessary front flips, Benson Boone, has just announced his first-ever headline Manchester arena gig as part of a new arena tour.
The solo artist and acrobatic chart-topper has seen a meteoric rise in the US and, as is usually the case across the Atlantic, he’s become increasingly popular over here too.
Benson may have performed here in Manchester before as part of the 2024 MTV EMAs and for a small show at The Deaf Institute, but now big fans have the added Boone of getting to watch a standalone show at one of Europe’s leading indoor entertainment venues.
Announced on Friday, 30 May, the 22-year-old will be making his way across the pond from Washington for a limited run of UK concerts, with a date at Co-op Live arena being one of just five dates.
Extending his ‘American Heart Tour’ ahead of the release of his eponymous sophomore record, with this autumn leg, Co-op Live will mark his individual visit to 0161.
The Grammy-nominated artist has earned several nods of recognition already for his first album, Fireworks & Rollerblades, which was released just last spring.
He has been described as among the current trend of male singers who fit into the American Idol and ‘Voice audition pop’ genre (a term recently coined online), along with the likes of Teddy Swims, Shawn Mendes, Alex Warren and others.
Regardless of the slightly tongue-in-cheek term, he’s become a huge hit around the world and landing him is still a big coup for the venue that has already welcomed similarly massive pop contemporaries like Swims, Sabrina Carpenter, Olivia Rodrigo and more.
In case you’re wondering just how big a deal he is over in the States, even this early in his career, his domestic headline dates sold out in seconds, quite literally…
The last time he visited Co-op Live was to perform at the most recent MTV EMAs
Benson Boone is coming to Manchester on Monday, 27 October and will be playing just two other British venues: The O2 in London (two nights) and the Utilita Arena in Birmingham.
Safe to say you don’t want to miss this one if you like soaring vocals and lots of flipping.
General admission tickets go live at 10am on Thursday, 5 June, but Co-op Members can gain access via the arena’s official pre-sale window from the same time on Tuesday (3 Jun).
Emily Sergeant -
30th August 2022 
