A Japanese insurance database was used to study the relationship between green tea consumption and all-cause and disease-specific mortality. The population-based study included data on 40,530 Japanese adults aged 40 to 79 years. At baseline in 1994, all subjects were free of stroke, coronary heart disease, and cancer. All-cause mortality was assessed over 11 years’ follow-up and mortality from cardiovascular disease and cancer over 7 years’ follow-up. Especially for women, greater consumption of green tea was associated with lower all-cause mortality and mortality from cardiovascular disease. On multivariate analysis, hazard ratios for all-cause mortality were 0.93 for men who drank 1 to 2 cups of green tea per day, 0.95 for 3 to 4 cups per day, and 0.88 for more than 5 cups per day (compared to less than 1 cup per day). For women, the hazard ratios were 0.98, 0.82, and 0.77, respectively. Green tea consumption had an even stronger inverse association with cardiovascular disease: for women, hazard ratios were 0.84 at 1 to 2 cups per day, 0.69 at 3 to 4 cups per day, and 0.69 at 5 or more cups per day. This study suggests that all cause and cardiovascular disease mortality are lower among subjects with higher consumption of green tea. Drinking green tea was noted in this study to have no apparent protective effect against cancer mortality. (52)
