Five Cups a Day Keeps the Doctor Away

Feeling a little under the weather? Got the seasonal cold that seems to be tormenting all of us as we hover on the cusp of Spring? Well now there's new evidence to prove that tea does more than just warm you up from the inside and add a (much needed) jolt of caffeine to your day: it's good for you.

For as long as any of us can remember, tea as been anecdotally accepted as a cure-all for the common cold. Runny nose? Sore throat? Congestion? Try some tea -- mint, ginger, or chamomile with a dash of honey. Beyond that, the anecdotal evidence abounds: "I drink green tea every day and I haven't been to the doctor in a decade," says my friend's grandfather. 

Turns out, there's science to back that up. According to Yoshihiro Kokubo, the lead author of a new study that followed over 80,000 Japanese adults for an average period of 13 years, men and women who drank at least three cups of green tea OR two cups of coffee a day had a 20% lower risk of stroke. Kokubo and her team accounted for factors like age, exercise levels, alcohol consumption, and smoking, and found that consuming five or more cups of green tea daily corresponded with a 26% decrease in death from cardiovascular disease along with an astounding 15% decrease in all-cause mortality.

I'll take those odds any day. 
For more information, check out the write-up in the Atlantic, or NPR's "Morning Edition" story.