Stress may be alleviated by black tea

AORN Journal,  May, 2007  

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Drinking black tea daily may help people to recover from the stress of everyday life more quickly, according to an Oct 4, 2006, news release from University College London. Researchers conducted a double-blind study involving regular tea drinkers that suggests that black tea may have an effect on stabilizing stress hormone levels after stressful situations.

Researchers studied 75 young men who were regular tea drinkers during a period of six weeks in which they all discontinued their normal tea, coffee, and caffeinated beverage consumption. The participants were divided into two groups, one of which was given a fruit-flavored, caffeinated tea beverage containing the normal components of an average cup of black tea. The control group was given a placebo beverage that, though caffeinated, tea-colored, and identical in taste, did not contain the active tea ingredients. The drinks that both groups received were devoid of sensory cues associated with tea drinking (ie, smell, taste) in order to eliminate sensory factors that might complicate the results.

Both groups of participants were given challenging tasks to accomplish while researchers recorded measurements of their stress levels. For example, one task involved the participant experiencing one of three stressful situations (ie, threat of unemployment, accusation of shoplifting, incident in a nursing home); preparing a verbal response to the situation; and arguing his case on camera.

Researchers found that the tasks triggered similar stress levels in both groups of participants; their blood pressure, heart rate, and subjective stress ratings art increased. Fifty minutes after completing the tasks, however, the levels of cartisol (ie, a stress hormone) in the tea-drinking group decreased by an average of 47%, but the levels in the control group only decreased by an average of only 27%. Additionally, the participants in the tea-drinking group not only reported being more relaxed during the post-task period, but they also had tower blood platelet activation, which is associated with blood dotting and heart attack risk.

Black Tea Soothes Away Stress [news release]. London: University College London; October 4, 2006. Available at: http://www.ucl.ac.uk/media/library/tea. Accessed October 20, 2006.

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