Association of tea consumption with life expectancy in US adults.

Objective: The association of tea consumption with life expectancy in US adults remains unclear. This study aimed to evaluate the correlation between tea consumption and life expectancy among US adults.

Methods: Tea consumption records and available mortality data from National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey 2001 to 2018 for adults ≥ 20 years of age were used (n = 43,276). Participants were grouped based on their daily tea consumption as follows: non-drinkers, < 1 cup/day, 1 to < 3 cups/day, 3 to < 5 cups/day, and ≥ 5 cups/day. Life table method was used to evaluate the association between daily tea consumption and life expectancy.

Results: During a median follow-up of 8.7 years, we documented 6275 deaths out of the 43,276 participants. The estimated life expectancy at age 50 years was 30.69 years (95% confidence interval, 30.53 to 30.89), 30.77 years (29.45 to 32.19), 31.07 years (30.35 to 31.69), 32.93 years (31.24 to 34.5), and 29.68 years (27.38 to 31.97) in tea-consuming participants with non-drinker, < 1 cup/day, 1 to < 3 cups/day, 3 to < 5 cups/day, and ≥ 5 cups/day, respectively. Equivalently, participants with 3 to < 5 cups/day consumption had a life gain of average 2.24 years (0.49 to 3.85) compared with those without tea consumption. Similar years of life gained were observed in females and White individuals, but not in males, Black and Hispanic populations. Notably, obvious health benefits weren't observed in other groups of tea consumption. The addition of sugar to tea is a potential health risk factor.

Conclusions: Consuming 3 to < 5 cups/day of tea may be a healthy recommendation for tea intake, and the addition of sugar to tea should be approached with caution.