Green tea consumption and cause-specific mortality: Results from two prospective cohort studies in China.
BACKGROUND
Green tea is one of the most widely consumed beverages in Asia. While a possible protective role of green tea against various chronic diseases has been suggested in experimental studies, evidence from human studies remains controversial.


METHODS
We conducted this study using data from Shanghai Men's Health Study (SMHS) and Shanghai Women's Health Study (SWHS), two population-based prospective cohorts of middle-aged and elderly Chinese adults in urban Shanghai, China. Hazard ratios (HR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI) for risk of all-cause and cause-specific mortality associated with green tea intake were estimated using Cox proportional hazards regression models.


RESULTS
During a median follow-up of 8.3 and 14.2 years for men and women, respectively, 6517 (2741 men and 3776 women) deaths were documented. We found that green tea consumption was inversely associated with risk of all-cause mortality (HR 0.95; 95% CI, 0.90-1.01), particularly among never-smokers (HR 0.89; 95% CI, 0.82-0.96). The inverse association with cardiovascular disease (CVD) mortality (HR 0.86; 95% CI, 0.77-0.97) was slightly stronger than that with all-cause mortality. No significant association was observed between green tea intake and cancer mortality (HR 1.01; 95% CI, 0.93-1.10).


CONCLUSIONS
Green tea consumption may be inversely associated with risk of all-cause and CVD mortality in middle-aged and elderly Chinese adults, especially among never smokers.
['Zhao|Long-Gang|LG|', 'Li|Hong-Lan|HL|', 'Sun|Jiang-Wei|JW|', 'Yang|Yang|Y|', 'Ma|Xiao|X|', 'Shu|Xiao-Ou|XO|', 'Zheng|Wei|W|', 'Xiang|Yong-Bing|YB|']
D000328:Adult D000368:Aged D002318:Cardiovascular Diseases D002423:Cause of Death D002681:China D005260:Female D006801:Humans D008297:Male D008875:Middle Aged D016016:Proportional Hazards Models D011446:Prospective Studies D012307:Risk Factors D012907:Smoking D013662:Tea D014505:Urban Population
Green tea Cohort study All-cause mortality Cancer mortality CVD mortality