Milk in tea ruins health benefit
After a claim, that adding milk neutralized the healthy properties of tea, the benefits of the great British tradition of tea-drinking were called into question.
A German study compared the effects on arteries of those drinking black tea, tea with skimmed milk and plain, hot water.
It found that caseins, proteins in milk, blocked the powerful effect of catechins in tea - that helped to protect the arteries and kept cardiovascular disease in a cleft stick.
16 women participated in a study. Their arterial function was measured two hours after drinking.
“Our results provide a possible explanation for the lack of beneficial effects of tea on heart disease in the UK.”, was said in the European Heart Journal.
But Bill Gorman, the chairman of the Tea Council, said: “This is a very small study. I can show you studies that show that milk does not hinder the bio-activity of tea.”