TEA: Richest in Flavan-3-ols Says First Ever Dietary Recommendations for Bioactives

Toronto, Ontario--(Newsfile Corp. - November 16, 2022) - A new study titled Flavan-3-ols and Cardiometabolic Health: First Ever Dietary Bioactive Guideline has been published in Advances in Nutrition¹ and is for the first time making dietary recommendations for the intake of bioactives such as flavan-3-ols. This study points to an evolving body of research which suggests that "dietary bioactives play a key role in human health maintenance as well as disease prevention and mitigation". Bioactives, are defined as "essential and non-essential compounds (e.g., vitamins or polyphenols) that occur in nature, are part of the food chain, and can be shown to have an effect on human health".²

Recommendations from the study differ significantly from the past in that they are not based on deficiencies but are focused on "improvement in health outcomes". They conclude that the intake of 400-600mg/day of flavan-3-ols is supported by the assessed literature. In addition, they add that "increasing the consumption of dietary flavan-3-ols may help improve blood pressure, cholesterol concentrations and blood sugar" as well as pointing to research that "demonstrates higher consumption may reduce the risk of certain cardiometabolic disease and related mortality".

The recommended 400-600mg/day of flavan-3-ols from the study can be found in a variety of foods, the highest source being tea. According to the USDA Database for Flavanoid Content³, a cup of tea (Camellia-Sinensis) contains approximately 160mg of flavan-3-ols. This means that 2-4 8oz cups of tea would meet the dietary recommendations made by the study in order to help "reduce the risk of certain cardiometabolic disease and related mortality".

“Dietary recommendations are important for all Canadians. We know that living a healthy life should include being active and consuming both nutrients and bioactives. Tea has been long regarded as a healthy beverage and we continue to see hard scientific evidence reinforcing this message. The importance of flavan-3-ols, which are found in high amounts in tea cannot be understated,” says Shabnam Weber, President of the Tea and Herbal Association of Canada.

Heart disease is the number one cause of death globally.⁴ In Canada, according to the 2017-2018 data from the Canadian Chronic Disease Surveillance System, about 1 in 12 (or 2.6 million) Canadian adults age 20 and over live with diagnosed heart disease.⁵ This problem has been exacerbated by the global COVID-19 pandemic as life expectancy has dropped by almost one year and mortality rates from cardiovascular diseases have risen more than any other non-COVID-19 ailment.⁶

Heart disease is a global, and Canadian problem which can be addressed by updating the approach to dietary recommendations made to consumers. According to the Canadian Heart and Stroke Foundation, "80% of premature heart disease and stroke can be prevented through healthy behaviours"⁷ which includes good dietary habits. This consists of all forms of nutrients consumers ingest from food and beverages as recommended by Health Canada in the Canada Food Guide but should also include important bioactives such as flavan-3-ols which occur in high amounts in all types of tea made from Camellia-Sinensis.

The Tea and Herbal Association encourages tea drinking as a part of healthy living and supports the inclusion of bioactives to dietary recommendations for the improvement of health.

Comparative chart of foods that are a good source of flavan-3-ols

To view an enhanced version of this graphic, please visit:
https://images.newsfilecorp.com/files/8767/144178_125957ad94623ac3_001full.jpg

About the Tea & Herbal Association of Canada

Founded in 1954, The Tea & Herbal Association of Canada is the leading authority and industry voice on all things tea in Canada and represents members from bush to cup. We provide proactive leadership in the areas of advocacy, generic promotion, education and information in order to ensure the long-term viability of the tea industry. We serve as the number one source of information, research about tea and offer the only Tea Sommelier® Certification program in Canada. We are passionate about tea and dedicated to increasing awareness of quality tea and its health benefits to Canadians. Visit www.tea.ca for more information. Like our page on Facebook or follow us on Twitter, Instagram and YouTube.

Adi Baker
Tea & Herbal Association of Canada
adi@tea.ca
(416)510-8647 ext.2

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¹ https://academic.oup.com/advances/advance-article/doi/10.1093/advances/nmac105/6747118?login=false
² https://www.academia.edu/18840869/Bioactive_compounds_Definition_and_assessment_of_activity?auto=citations&from=cover_page
³ https://www.ars.usda.gov/arsuserfiles/80400525/data/flav/flav_r03-1.pdf
⁴ https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(16)31012-1/fulltext
⁵ https://www.canada.ca/en/public-health/services/publications/diseases-conditions/heart-disease-canada.html
⁶ https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/t1/tbl1/en/tv.action?pid=1310083701
⁷ https://www.heartandstroke.ca/

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