Tea Consumption Weakens Bones  Oolong Tea |
The oolong and black variety of tea if used for a long period of time can lead to the weakening of human bones. This happens because tea beverages contain the toxic substance called fluorine in it. This startling discovery was made by some Japanese researchers.
The researchers, including Tetsuo Shimmura, who is senior research scientist of Toyama Institute of Health in Toyama Prefecture, reported the presence of the chemical in beverages such as oolong tea and black tea during a meeting of Japan Society for Biomedical Research on Trace Elements in Tokyo recently.
They confirmed that the fluorine content in tea exceeds the standard for tap water in terms of density in about 70% of the 130 instances they analysed.
There is no criterion for the amount of fluorine in green tea, black tea and oolong tea beverages, but for raw water and tap water it is under 0.8 milligrams per litre and for mineral water it is less than 2 milligrams per litre.
"In our study of people's health in the Inner Mongolian Autonomous Region (in China), we found that the bones of those who consumed water and beverages containing high fluorine density over a long time could develop a propensity to break," Shimmura said.
"They are not in any immediate risk. However, it is desirable that a standard be set and displayed for tea drinks.
