Drinking tea regularly may be linked to lower mortality risk, study finds

The findings suggest that black tea, even at higher levels of intake, can be part of a healthy diet.

Thankfully, research has found that such pleasures may have health benefits.

A study of nearly half a million tea drinkers in the UK showed that higher intake of the beverage was associated with a "modestly lowered risk of death".

Led by researchers at the National Cancer Institute, part of the National Institutes of Health in the United States, the study analysed the potential mortality benefits of drinking black tea.

Black tea is the most common type of tea consumed in Ireland and the UK.

The analysis involved 498,043 men and women between the ages of 40 and 69 who participated in a large cohort study and were followed up with for about 11 years.

Researchers found that people who consumed two or more cups of tea per day had a 9% to 13% lower risk of death from any cause than people who did not drink tea.

"Higher tea consumption was also associated with a lower risk of death from cardiovascular disease, ischemic heart disease, and stroke," the National Institutes of Health said in a statement.

It added that this was seen regardless of preferred tea temperature, the addition of milk or sugar and genetic variations affecting the rate at which people metabolise caffeine.

The findings were published on Tuesday (30 August) in the Annals of Internal Medicine and can be found here.