Drinking Tea Might Bolster the Bones
Older women found benefit from daily consumption

(HealthDay News) -- When people want to strengthen their bones, tea might not be the first thing that comes to mind. But Australian researchers have found that elderly women who drink tea daily have a higher average bone density than women who forgo tea.

The study, published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition , included 275 Australian women between 70 and 85 years old. Those who drank tea had about a 3 percent higher bone mineral density after four years than did women who did not drink tea.

"This study suggests that drinking tea in moderation can actually benefit your bones," the study's lead author, Amanda Devine, a senior lecturer in the nutrition program at Edith Cowan University in Perth, told HealthDay .

During the four-year span of the study, tea-drinkers "lost less bone than those who did not drink tea," Devine said. "More than three-quarters of the women drank tea daily, and they consumed on average about three cups per day."

Several possible reasons exist for tea's beneficial effect on bones, she said. One is flavonoids, which "have been shown to have a stimulatory effect on new cells that build bone in cell line studies," Devine said. "Also, the weak estrogenic [effect] of phytoestrogens found in tea may be beneficial, especially to older women whose levels of endogenous estrogen is low."

Another reason might stem from the additional calcium tea drinkers would get if they add milk to their tea, she said.

However, increasing the amount of tea intake didn't seem to improve bone density.

"We didn't see a dose-response to tea drinking -- that is, if you drank more tea, then your bones were even better," Devine said. "The lack of relationship may be due to the small numbers of tea drinkers in each group, once we started examining these data."

Not everyone's convinced, though, that tea can help build strong bones.

"One or two cups of tea a day probably couldn't hurt, but I wouldn't say that it absolutely will help," Paul Brandt, an associate professor of neuroscience and experimental therapeutics at Texas A&M Health Science Center College of Medicine, told HealthDay . "It's possible that it could prevent some loss. Some tea may be potentially helpful."

What can definitely help people maintain bone health, though, is taking in sufficient amounts of calcium and vitamin D, either though diet or supplements, according to the National Osteoporosis Foundation. Adults older than 50 should consume at least 1,200 milligrams (mg) of calcium daily, whereas those younger than 50 need 1,000 mg each day, according to the foundation. For vitamin D, people over 50 should get 800 to 1,000 international units (IU) of vitamin D every day, and those under 50 need 400 to 800 IUs daily.

The foundation also recommends regular, weight-bearing exercise for bone health.

On the Web

To learn more about keeping bones healthy, visit the National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases.

SOURCES: HealthDay News ; Amanda Devine, Ph.D., senior lecturer, Nutrition Program, School of Exercise, Biomedical and Health Science, Edith Cowan University, and adjunct senior lecturer, School of Medicine and Pharmacology, University of Western Australia, Perth; Paul Brandt, Ph.D., associate professor of neuroscience and experimental therapeutics, Texas A&M Health Science Center College of Medicine, College Station, Texas; October 2007, American Journal of Clinical Nutrition ; National Osteoporosis Foundation (www.nof.org)
Author: Serena Gordon
Publication Date: Oct. 31, 2008
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