In a research paper released this week in the Archives of Internal Medicine, black tea was tested to see whether the beverage had any effect on lowering blood pressure in male and female test subjects aged 35-75.

The 95 study participants had systolic blood pressure readings ranging from 115-150 and were randomly assigned to one of two groups. One group drank three cups a day of regular leaf tea that contained 1493mg of powdered black tea solids with 429mg of polyphenols and 96mg of caffeine. The other group drank a placebo that had the same flavour and caffeine content but had no tea solids.

Those in the black tea solids group saw a drop of systolic and diastolic blood pressure over six months of between two and three points compared with the placebo group.

 From the January 25, 2012, Prepared Foods' Daily News.