FED: Tea the main source of antioxidants

AAP General News (Australia)
08-25-1999
FED: Tea the main source of antioxidants

BRISBANE, Aug 25 AAP - Australian adults get most of their disease-fighting antioxidants
from tea, a study shows.

In fact antioxidant activity is seven times higher in adult diets than children's diets,
thanks to beverages.

CSIRO researcher Dr Katrine Baghurst was commissioned by a major tea manufacturer to
analyse the role of beverages in the diet, drawing on information collected in the Australian
Bureau of Statistics national nutrition survey conducted in 1995-96.

She found that among tea drinkers, their favourite "cuppa" provides more than half of all
dietary polyphenols in the diet and 40 per cent of flavonoids - both strong antioxidants.

Antioxidants combat free radicals which build up in the body, contributing to cancer, stroke
and heart disease.

As a nutritionist, Dr Baghurst does not believe people should drink tea to the exclusion of
other sources of antioxidants such as fruit and vegetables, but she said non-tea drinkers
should be aware there may be health benefits in choosing tea.

CSIRO research - in rats - shows that black tea with milk may have an equal benefit in
reducing free radical activity as green tea, which is favoured in Asia and believed to
contribute to the low levels of heart disease on that continent.

Dr Baghurst points out that in other cultures children may be getting more antioxidants
through beverages: Indian children for example drink tea from an early age, and French
children take watered-down red wine.

"But I'd be more inclined to be pushing the message for children that they need milk for
their bones," she added.

Dr Baghurst also found that tea drinkers tend to consume above-average amounts of fruit and
vegetables.

AAP rr

KEYWORD: TEA

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