Green tea and milk

Nutrition Discussions
1

I know the connoisseurs out there won’t be impressed but I do, and always have, drunk my green tea with milk. I’m drinking it mainly for the antioxidant benefits, but someone mentioned to me that some new research says adding milk reduces the benefits by neutralizing (or some other word) the antioxidants?

Now this is just something I’ve heard, I did a quick google search and couldn’t find anything supporting this but does anyone else have any knowledge on this.

2

I’ve read the exact same thing. I’m sure you’ll see a link to the study show up here sooner or later…Charlie?

Rupert
CharlieFrancis.com

3

Irrelevent links deleted

4

Hard to tell as you can find a study or article that says just about anything you want. Not to hijack the thread but Bill Romanowski rants in his book how you should never take vitamins (Vitamin C?) after a workout. Anyone know why that is?

5

I appreciate that Juggler, but if we look at the first link, it says:

“Their study showed that the culprit in milk is a group of proteins called
caseins, which they found interacted with the tea to decrease the concentration
of catechins in the beverage. Catechins are the flavonoids in tea that mainly
contribute to its protection against cardiovascular disease”.

But if you click on the first web link at the foot of your second reference
(which is about green tea) it states

http://www.relaxsipenjoy.com/antioxidants_in_tea.aspx

"Tea contains vitamins A, C, and E as well as health-promoting compounds called
Flavonoids. The flavonoids, called polyphenols, act as antioxidants that counter
the effects of reactive oxygen molecules that result from normal body functions
and contribute to aging and chronic disease.

One subgroup of polyphenols, called catechins, is abundant in green tea (China
Green Tea - Japan Green Tea), especially tea made from the very top of the bush.
Catechins were discovered in the 1970s, when medical researchers were looking
for the reason people in Japan’s Shizuoka Prefecture - a major tea-growing area

  • had much lower rates of cancer than other Japanese, even when they were very
    heay smokers. One catechin in particular, epigallocatechin gallate (EGCg), is
    found in no other plant than tea, and it’s one of the most potent antioxidants
    yet discovered - up to twenty times stronger than Vitamin E. Numerous studies
    have found EGCg to be effective in preventing and inhibiting cancer growth."

It would therefore appear that if you add milk ie casein to green tea you will
also reduce the catechins in the green tea which are one of its main
antioxidant ingredients. Therefore, for maximum benefit, drink black or green
tea without milk (but you can add honey)!

So the textbook antioxidants aren’t affected by the milk, but the catechins, (which act as antioxidants, and appear to be one of the reasons tea is good for you) are.

Anyone disagree or have anything further?