Regular cups of tea can help speed recovery
from stress, researchers from University College
London (UCL) said.
Men who drank black
tea four times a day for six weeks were found
to have lower levels of the stress hormone
cortisol than a control group who drank a
fake tea substitute, the researchers said
in a study published in the journal Psychopharmacology.
The tea drinkers also reported a greater
feeling of relaxation after performing tasks
designed to raise stress levels.
Andrew Steptoe, of UCL's department of Epidemiology
and Public Health, and one of the report's
authors, said the findings could have important
health implications.
"Slow recovery following acute stress has
been associated with a greater risk of chronic
illness such as coronary heart disease.
"Although it does not appear to reduce the
actual levels of stress we experience, tea
does seem to have a greater effect in bringing
stress hormone levels back to normal."
In the study, 75 tea-drinking men were split
into two groups, all giving up their normal
tea, coffee and caffeinated drinks.
Half were given a fruit-flavored caffeinated
tea mixture made up of the usual constituents
of a cup of black tea.
The others were given a caffeinated substitute,
identical in taste but without the active
tea ingredients.
Neither the participants or the researchers
knew who was drinking real or false tea.
At the end of six weeks the participants
were given a series of tests designed to raise
their stress levels, including being given
five minutes to prepare and deliver a presentation.
The researchers found that stress levels,
blood pressure and heart rate rose similar
amounts in both groups.
But 50 minutes after the tasks cortisol levels
had fallen an average of 47 percent among
the tea drinkers, compared to 27 percent in
the fake tea group.
Steptoe said it was not known which ingredients
in tea were responsible for the effects found
in the study.
