Tea drinking and bone density in Chinese adults over time
What it found
Women who drank tea weekly for many years had slightly denser heel bones than non-drinkers, but men showed no difference.
Using more tea leaves did not add extra benefit.
What they found
Studies in people
Bone density in women
Women who drank tea at least weekly for many years had slightly higher heel bone density readings than women who never drank tea. This was seen across three different ultrasound measures of the heel bone.
No link in men
Men who drank tea regularly showed no difference in heel bone density compared to men who never drank tea. The authors suggest heavy smoking among male tea drinkers might mask any benefit.
Amount of tea leaves
Among regular tea drinkers, using 3.0 to 5.9 grams of tea leaves a day gave higher bone readings than using less than 3.0 grams. But using 6.0 grams or more a day erased that difference, showing neither benefit nor harm.
Type of tea matters
Women who usually drank oolong tea had higher bone readings than those who drank green or black tea. Very few women in the group drank black tea regularly, making those results less certain.
Longer drinking habits
People who had been drinking tea for more than 20 years had slightly better bone readings than those who drank it for a shorter time. Former female tea drinkers also had better bone readings than those who never drank tea.
What the authors conclude
- They conclude that long-term moderate tea drinking is linked to better bone health in women but not in men.
- They note that brewing stronger tea with more leaves does not appear to help or harm bones.
- They call for more research in other populations and on how tea drinking in younger years affects peak bone strength.
How it was done
Scientists wanted to know if drinking tea helps or harms bones, since tea contains compounds that might build bone but also caffeine that may increase calcium loss. Most earlier work focused only on women after menopause, so they included both men and women.
They followed 20,643 Chinese adults aged 38 to 86 who answered questions about their tea habits twice, about eight years apart. At the second visit, researchers measured heel bone density using ultrasound. They compared people who never drank tea with those who drank it weekly over many years.
What it can’t tell you
- This study tracked people over time, so it can show a link between tea and bone density but cannot prove tea caused the difference.
- People reported their own tea habits, which may not be perfectly accurate.
- Ultrasound was used instead of the standard X-ray method for measuring bone density.
Who paid
- Funding
- Funded by Wellcome Trust; Medical Research Council (from the PubMed record).
- Conflicts
- CONFLICT OF INTEREST: None. ETHICAL APPROVAL: The Ethical Review Committee of the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention (Beijing, China), Chinese Academy of Medical Science/Peking Union Medical College (Beijing, China), and the Oxford Tropical Research Ethics Committee, University of Oxford (UK) approved the study.
- Authors work at
- Peking University Health Science Center, China; Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences, China; University of Oxford, UK
The paper
- Title
- Tea consumption and bone health in Chinese adults: a population-based study
- Type
- Study
- Evidence
- Studies in people
- Summarised from
- Full text
- Cite
- Li X, Qiao Y, Yu C, et al (2019). Tea consumption and bone health in Chinese adults: a population-based study. Osteoporosis international. doi:10.1007/s00198-018-4767-3Free full textPubMed 30443748DOI
Summary written 30 Sep 2026. Check it against the paper before it changes what you eat. How we summarise papers · Report an error