Natasha M Setiabakti
Indonesia
Title: The effect of Black tea consumption in reducing blood pressure
Biography
Biography: Natasha M Setiabakti
Abstract
Hypertension has been the leading risk factor to various cardiovascular diseases. Worldwide, more than one in six people suffer from hypertension. Theory had suggested that black tea, a very popular beverage around the globe, has a positive effect for cardiovascular protection and can reduce blood pressure. Thus, this report focuses on the effect of black tea consumption on blood pressure. Internet-based literature search was done through three electronic databases (Ovid Medline, PubMed, and EBSCOHost. Using the keyword “black tea” and “hypertension”, applying various filters and reviewing the abstract, 2 promising studies were used in this report. One meta-analysis by Liu, et al showed that long-term consumption of black tea significantly reduces the mean average of systolic and diastolic BP. Similar result was also reported by Grassi, et al that stated that intake of two glasses of black tea for eight consecutive days reduces the BP. Black tea had significantly reduces the BP and can be recommended to hypertensive patient. However, consumption of black tea cannot replace anti-hypertensive drug due to its small effect.