(NaturalHealth365)  People all over the world enjoy drinking tea.  Some may drink a cup to wake up in the morning.  Others enjoy tea with an afternoon snack or before bedtime.

Tea can be a wonderful way to take a break, wake up, or warm yourself on a cold day.  But besides this, a new study suggests that drinking a cup of tea daily also has surprising health benefits.

A daily cup of tea may protect your health later in life

Humans have been drinking tea for centuries, and wide varieties of tea offer well-known healing properties.  For example, chamomile tea may help improve digestive health, decrease depression and anxiety, and even help prevent some chronic diseases.

Recent research from Edith Cowen University (ECU) further illuminates the possible health benefits of drinking tea.  The study evaluated almost 900 women with an average age of 80.  Researchers measured the participants’ likelihood of having abdominal aortic calcification build-up.  The abdominal aorta is a critical artery that supplies oxygenated blood to the organs and lower limbs.

AAC is terrible news for heart health, as it predicts cardiovascular disease risk and dementia.

However, those with a higher dietary intake of a key dietary substance found in black tea were much less likely to have AAC.  In fact, study participants who consumed two to six cups of tea per day were up to 42% less likely to have significant AAC than non-tea drinkers.

Ultimately, drinking tea might promote better cardiovascular health later in life.  This is great news for all the tea lovers out there.  But what if you’re not a tea lover?

You don’t need to drink tea to experience health-protective benefits

Fortunately for non-tea drinkers, black and green tea aren’t the only way to enjoy health benefits late in life.  It turns out that black tea is beneficial because it’s high in an essential dietary substance called flavonoids.  Many varieties of flavonoids occur naturally in food and offer multiple health benefits.

It’s suspected that flavonoids are anti-inflammatory, anti-oxidative, and anti-carcinogenic, making them an essential substance with many health applications.  Thankfully, flavonoids are found in several different foods, including black and green tea, fruits, berries, apples, grains, vegetables, roots and nuts, to name just a few.  So even if you don’t drink tea, you can still reap the benefits of a flavonoid-rich diet.

Guard your health now and later in life

The ECU study revealed that even among participants who did not drink black tea, a higher flavonoid intake resulted in a lower risk of artery calcification.  It’s clear that many flavonoid-rich foods and beverages may help protect your long-term health, not just black tea.

Of course, a nutrient-rich diet low in processed foods, along with regular exercise, are the best ways to protect your overall well-being.  No one knows for sure how long we’ll live – but in the meantime, feel free to pour yourself that hot cup of tea.

Sources for this article include:

Sciencedaily.com
NIH.gov