Heavy tea drinkers can come across with bone problems

Heavy tea drinkers can come across with bone problemsMedical College of Georgia has conducted a new research on tea which shows that Heavy tea drinkers can come across with bone problems.

They discovered that fluoride concentration in black tea is much more than expected.

Dr. Gary Whitford, Regents Professor of oral biology in the School of Dentistry said that normally intake of two to four cups of black tea in a day will not cause any harm but intake of large amount of tea in a day can cause serious health problems.

Previously it was recorded that one liter of black tea contains 1 to 5 milligrams of fluoride but this new research discovers that the count of fluoride could be as high as 9 milligrams in one liter.

Researchers said that although intake of fluoride prevents dental cavity but excess consumption can lead to bone problems.

Researchers got alert when they were analyzing data from four patients with advanced skeletal fluorosis, a disease which is caused by excessive consumption of fluoride and is illustrated by joint and bone pain and damage.

Researchers found that since long time fluoride concentration on the black tea was underestimated.

Whitford said that when patient's tea brands were analyzed using traditional methods , fluoride concentration were found to be low but researchers question their method of detecting fluoride content in tea and later on they discover that the tea plant, Camellia sinensis create dilemma while measuring fluoride concentrations.

This plant is only one of its kinds with an exceptional attribute of accumulating heavy concentrations of fluoride and aluminum in its leaves. It was found that when leaves are fermented for tea, some of the minerals leaks in to the drink.

The findings are presented at the 2010 International Association of Dental Research Conference in Barcelona, Spain by Whitford.