Drinking tea bad for you?

[PeonyPatch]

Is drinking tea bad for you?

I must get through about 3-4 cups of tea a day, maybe even 5 or 6!! and I’m wondering if this is a bit of a pattern I need to change. Does it dehydrate you? Raise cholesterol? Am I overthinking this? Haha

Talk me through this!
I’ve constantly got a hot drink on the go but I doubt I manage a third of that!!

Basically when I finish one I'm up making another one 😄 I've got a nice 5 litre hot water dispenser so no waiting around for a kettle to boil😁

So I drink it with semi skimmed milk, no sugar. Did not know it can affect iron absorption and I do tend to be iron deficient 😩😳

It's also a diuretic, isn't it? So it can make you feel less hydrated.
But it has good antioxidants too. I think as long as you don't drink it instead of water and things that really hydrate you, and don't load it with milk/cream/sugar, in moderation (like most things) it's fine or even good for you.
I have two a day, with a bit of unsweetened oat milk. I'm happy with that.

landlordhell

I’d heard caffeine was a dehydrating so it could be that. I don’t know how it works I just know I dry out if I drink more tea!!

My sister drinks 15 plus cups a tea aday.
I drink the same but in coffee.

No, but I've noticed that if I drink more than 4ish cups it impacts my appetite. I like it with full fat milk and half a tsp sugar.

Don't see the point of ruining tea with skimmed milk though. I just swap some cups out for herbal tea or hot water, both more enjoyable than skimmed milk tea, which is bad for you as it induces deep depression.

According to google it has antioxidants like polyphenols and flavonoids. I have no idea what any of those are but apparently they are good for you! Personally, I found that my sleep improves dramatically if I stop drinking caffeine at lunch time, maybe I'm a lightweight

I also regard it as flavoured water, often drink weak or herbal teas but in all honesty there are lots of herbs than can be brewed as long as non-poisonous, some even have healthful properties.
I think some of the absorption issues are caused by excessive liquids, even water, which dilute stomach acid.

Omg how do you have time to brew that many cups a day!

30 cups a day, 3 mins brew for each - that's 1.5hrs a day of just brewing!

I'm a foster carer so work from home. I like my tea in a bone china pot too with a tea cosy.

I don't drink strong tea so nowhere near 3 minutes at all to brew 😂 though I guess I do spend a decent portion of the day making tea/coffee 😄

Something in tea (I suspect the caffeine as coffee is the same) triggers my IBS if I have more than 3-4 cups a day, but I assume that's a me problem rather than a general problem with tea.

Drinking a lot of tea can cause heart palpitations in susceptible people, due to the caffeine content. But for most people 3-4 cups a day will be fine.

I miss my tea at work! I used to drink loads but new job is no drinks at all at desks (including water) so I only get a cup of tea on my lunch
my dad mainlines coffee by the pint and the doctor said if he was as healthy as him at his age, he would be very happy

Hahah I don’t take milk now as have green tea but can only drink black tea with skimmed milk . I don’t want to taste the milk, just the tea

All in all I would say that drinking tea is actually better for you and the reason for that is, unless you're picking some blend that's specifically high in caffeine or is some sort of an herbal blend that is containing organic compounds that may or may not affect your system (example a bunch of herbal teas are sold for having health benefits which are not regulated, that doesn't mean that they're inherently harmful but they may be harmful to you if you have a particular health issue)

And it also depends on what you're adding to your teeth. For instance, I drink my tea black, so basically it's just some brown water. But I know other people who put tons of milk and sugar in their tea, and that's not so good for you.

All in all if you're just enjoying three to four cups of tea and not going overboard with a sweeteners, it's better for you to be hydrated. Don't worry about it. But watch out for those herbal teas because some can mess with your health.

How does anyone sleep after the amounts discussed here on too grounds, one the caffeine and two the sheer amounts of liquid. I personally can’t drink anything caffeinated after 2pm and no more than 1 mug cafetière coffee, or two mugs black tea in the morning or my sleep is disrupted

My mum drank tea all day, my dad coffee
we can all drink caffeine before bed and no issues at all. It does nothing for us, it’s like drinking water

During recent Urology consultation, Consultant said that caffeine in tea (and presumably other caffeinated drinks) is a bladder irritant and a switch to decaf was in order.

Do you really? A new teabag each time? Any sugar?
how long does it take you to finish a cup? I can’t imagine drinking 30 drinks per day let alone hot ones

Interesting. But how much?! Surely in moderation it’s okay? Obvs 20 cups of caffeinated tea can’t be good!

I may make the switch to decaf… something for the new year 😂

Yorkshire tea malty biscuit brew is the reason i am now on 5 pints of tea a day😂

Yes I do really. 2 sugars in tea and 1 in coffee. It doesn't take long to drink because I have a decent amount of milk so it's not scalding hot and I can drink it straight away. And yes a new teabag each time. I've got a hot water dispenser so it's a quick job of making one