Drinking Tea Daily Could Bring Down Risk of Glaucoma

According to a latest study, drinking a cup of hot tea at least once a day may be linked to a significantly lower risk of developing the serious eye condition glaucoma. Glaucoma is a serious eye condition which is triggered by excess fluid pressure build-up inside the eye, leading to the damage of 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.

But drinking decaffeinated and caffeinated coffee, decaffeinated tea, iced tea and soft drinks doesn’t seem to make any difference to glaucoma risk, the findings show.

Tea contains polyphenols, which are antioxidants that can protect against cell damage, and help to repair damage already caused. Coffee contains slightly different polyphenols to the ones found in tea.

This could help explain why coffee did not have the same effect on glaucoma risk, according to Anne Coleman, the lead researcher of the study and director of the UCLA Mobile Eye Clinic.

Decaffeinated tea and iced tea may have lower levels of polyphenols than hot brewed tea, which is why they may not have been associated with lower glaucoma risk.

The study did not examine the differences, if any between black, green or white teas, or examine whether the health benefits increase if people drink larger amounts of tea every day.

Here are some other benefits of tea that would make you even happier about your daily cuppa.

Tea contains many health boosting antioxidants.
Tea may help boost weight-loss
Tea can help boost immune system
Tea can also help protect bones.
Tea may help soothe digestion.