Drinking hot tea daily may reduce glaucoma risk: study
Drinking a cup of hot tea at least
once a day may significantly lower risk of developing glaucoma - a serious eye
condition, a study suggests. However, drinking decaffeinated and caffeinated
coffee, decaffeinated tea, iced tea and soft drinks do not seem to make any
difference to glaucoma risk, said researchers from the University of California
in the US.
Glaucoma causes fluid pressure to
build up inside the eye (intraocular pressure), damaging the optic nerve. It is
one of the leading causes of blindness worldwide, and currently affects 57.5
million people, and is expected to increase to 65.5 million by 2020, according
to the study published in the journal BMJ.
Previous research suggests that
caffeine can alter intraocular pressure, but no study so far has compared the
potential impact of decaffeinated and caffeinated drinks on glaucoma risk.
The researchers looked at data from
the 2005-2006 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) in the
US. Among the 1678 participants who had full eye test results, including
photos, 84 (5 percent) adults had developed the condition.
They were asked how often and how
much they had drunk of caffeinated and decaffeinated drinks, including soft
drinks and iced tea, over the preceding 12 months, using a questionnaire.
Compared with those who did not
drink hot tea every day, those who did had a lower glaucoma risk, the data
showed.
After taking account of potentially
influential factors, such as diabetes and smoking, hot tea-drinkers were 74
percent less likely to have glaucoma. However, no such associations were found
for coffee - caffeinated or decaffeinated - decaffeinated tea, iced tea or soft
drinks.
16.12.2017
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