Tea Consumption and All-Cause Mortality

Glass of tea on a saucer by the seaside — Photo: Matan Hirsch / Shutterstock

Drinking at least two cups of tea a day was linked to a 9 to 13 percent lower risk of death in a study of nearly half a million adults.

Quick Take

A study of 498,043 UK adults found regular tea drinkers had lower rates of death from any cause, including heart disease and stroke.
The benefit showed up at two or more cups a day and held true no matter the tea’s temperature, or whether people added milk or sugar.
The results come from an observational study, meaning it shows a link, not direct proof that tea itself causes longer life.
Separate large reviews covering nearly 2 million people worldwide have found similar patterns linking tea to lower heart disease risk.

What The Massive UK Biobank Study Actually Found

Researchers tracked 498,043 adults between the ages of 40 and 69 as part of the UK Biobank project. Participants answered questions about their tea habits between 2006 and 2010. Scientists then followed what happened to them over the years, recording who died and why. The study, published in the Annals of Internal Medicine in August 2022, is one of the largest of its kind ever done on this beverage.

The headline number is simple. People who drank two or more cups of tea daily had a 9 to 13 percent lower risk of dying during the study period compared to people who drank no tea at all. That lower risk covered death from any cause, but it showed up clearly for cardiovascular disease, ischemic heart disease, and stroke.

It Didn’t Matter How People Took Their Tea

One of the most interesting parts of this research is what did not change the results. The protective link held up regardless of whether someone liked their tea piping hot or lukewarm. It also held up whether people added milk, sugar, both, or neither. Even genetic differences that affect how fast a person’s body breaks down caffeine did not erase the pattern researchers observed.

That consistency matters. It suggests the association is not just tied to one narrow habit, like drinking tea black and unsweetened. Tea drinkers across many different styles and preferences showed similar lower mortality numbers. For a beverage enjoyed in wildly different ways across cultures and households, that is a notable finding worth paying attention to.

Why This Is A Link, Not Yet Proof

This study followed people over time and recorded what happened to them, which makes it a prospective cohort study. That design is stronger than a simple survey taken at one moment, but it still falls short of a randomized trial. Nobody was assigned to drink tea or avoid it. People chose their own habits, which means other factors tied to healthier living could explain some of the results.

Tea drinkers in large studies often differ from non-drinkers in other ways. They may smoke less, exercise more, or eat better overall. Researchers try to adjust for these factors statistically, but no adjustment can fully erase every possible influence. That is why scientists describe this as an association, not a proven cause, even when the sample size is enormous.

How This Fits With Other Tea Research Worldwide

This UK study does not stand alone. A broader review combining 38 cohort studies and nearly 2 million participants worldwide found the highest tea drinkers had about 10 percent lower all-cause mortality and 14 percent lower cardiovascular mortality. An earlier analysis of 856,206 people across 22 studies found lower risks of coronary disease, stroke, and cardiac death among regular tea drinkers as well.

Drinking around seven cups of tea a day is associated with a significantly lower risk of heart and vascular diseases, according to a major new study involving nearly 486,000 people in China.

Researchers found that regular tea drinkers had an 11% lower relative risk of vascular… pic.twitter.com/chjzOTUoPl

— NewsWire 🇱🇰 (@NewsWireLK) October 23, 2026

What is still missing is a long-term randomized trial, the gold standard that could truly prove cause and effect. No such trial has yet tested whether assigning people to drink tea actually prevents heart attacks or strokes. Until that happens, the evidence remains strong on association but reserved on firm causation, which is an honest and scientifically responsible distinction to keep in mind.

What This Means For Your Daily Cup

None of this means tea is a substitute for medication, exercise, or a doctor’s advice on heart health. But for the millions of Americans who already drink tea daily, this research offers reassuring news. A habit many people already enjoy, in whatever form they like it, appears tied to better long-term outcomes rather than worse ones, and that is a welcome and common-sense takeaway.