The health benefits of tea have been reported in numerous
studies in recent years, but among healthy individuals the
evidence [of tea 's benefits] is actually mixed, notes the
studys lead author Kenneth J. Mukamal, MD, MPH, of the Division
of General Medicine and Primary Care at Beth Israel Deaconess
Medical Center. The greatest benefits of tea consumption have
been found among patients who already have cardiovascular
disease. Mukamal and his co-authors found that among individuals
who had suffered heart attacks, those who reported being heavy
tea drinkers had a 44 percent lower death rate than non-tea
drinkers in the three-and-a-half years following their heart
attacks, while moderate tea drinkers had a 28 percent lower rate
of dying when compared with non-tea drinkers. The key to this
protection appears to lie with a group of antioxidants known as
flavonoids, which are plentiful in both black and green tea.
Flavonoids, which are also found in certain fruits and
vegetables, including apples, onions and brocc