The Potential Harm of Strong Tea: Osteoporosis, Anemia, and Nutrient Loss

It is well known that tea has a range of health benefits, such as lowering blood lipids, preventing blood clots, killing bacteria, and preventing pollution. However, there is no such thing as something without any harm. When drinking tea, the following points should be noted:

1. Drinking strong tea can promote osteoporosis. According to a survey conducted by epidemiologists on 4,659 Inner Mongolian herdsmen, drinking strong tea for a long time led to a 17% higher osteoporosis rate compared to Han people who did not drink strong tea. The main reason for this is that tea leaves contain a high amount of caffeine, which can promote the excretion of urinary calcium, leading to negative calcium balance and calcium loss from bones. For menopausal women and the elderly who are prone to osteoporosis, strong tea is one of the factors that can cause calcium loss. It is advisable to drink light tea.

2. Drinking strong tea can easily cause anemia. In the treatment of refractory anemia, a blood disease department of a hospital found that 15 cases of anemia were caused by long-term consumption of strong tea. These patients had no history of bleeding or hematopoietic abnormalities during hospitalization. However, some of them relapsed and were readmitted after being cured. It was later discovered that they all had a habit of drinking or eating about 200-300 grams of tea leaves per month, with a tea history ranging from half a year to 4 years. These anemic patients quickly recovered their blood iron levels after stopping tea consumption for 15-30 days during hospitalization. During the observation period of 1-4 years after discharge, the hemoglobin levels remained normal for those who no longer drank tea. However, 3 people who started drinking 200 grams of dried tea leaves per month again developed iron-deficiency anemia. Why is this? Modern medical research has found that tannic acid in tea can form insoluble precipitates with trivalent iron, affecting the absorption of iron in the body. This is especially true when tea is consumed after a meal, as it can cause iron in the food to be difficult to absorb and be excreted.

3. Drinking a large amount of tea can cause the loss of various nutrients. Nutritionists have found that malnutrition in modern people is not due to poor diet, but rather the imbalance of nutrients. Tea is one of the factors that can cause this imbalance because excessive tea consumption increases urine output, leading to the loss of important nutrients such as magnesium, potassium, and vitamin B. Therefore, drinking tea should not be too strong and should avoid repeatedly brewing tea, which allows a large amount of water to enter the body and cause the loss of nutrients through urine. Excessive tea consumption in the elderly can also increase the burden on the heart.