Ask The Experts: Does adding milk to black tea negate its health benefits?
The answer is manifold. To
begin with, the scientific community
does not even agree on whether
tea itself offers any health benefits.
What people get from tea depends
on what variety they drink (there are
hundreds of species), as well as how
it was manufactured, harvested,
and brewed. Additives such as milk,
lemon, and sugar complicate matters
further. As a result, for every study
showing a health benefit from tea,
there is another showing none. For
example, two recent studies have
found that neither milk nor soy
milk inhibit absorption of the antioxidants
found in tea; one of these
showed that milk actually increases
the absorption of antioxidants. Other
research has found that the antioxidant
capacity of blood is lower
in subjects who take tea with milk
versus those who take it black. Yet
another study showed that milk proteins
block the relaxation effect tea
can have on blood vessels. We need
more studies using standardized
preparations of tea, with and without
additives, to answer the question
with any certainty.
Interestingly, our institute
recently completed a study published
in the October issue of the
Journal of the American College of
Nutrition that looked at key green
tea molecules, including EGCG and
the amino acid L-theanine, in encapsulated
form to see if they could
prevent cold and flu symptoms versus
a placebo. Turns out the capsule
reduced the incidence of cold and flu
symptoms by over 30 percent.
-Jack Bukowski, M.D., Ph.D., assistant
clinical professor at Harvard Medical
School and director of the Nutritional
Science Research Institute
