Health
Tea Leaves Can Steep Away Lead, Study Finds
Tea leaves pull heavy metals from water, significantly lowering the amount of lead and other dangerous compounds that people may be unknowingly drinking, a new study found.
Recent research has highlighted potential applications for used tea leaves, from biofuels to gluten-free cookies. But the new study shows a public health benefit from something that countless people are already doing. About five billion cups of tea are consumed each day around the world, according to one estimate.
“You can see the implications,” said Vinayak Dravid, a materials scientist at Northwestern and an author of the study, which was published this week. “How often do we touch billions of people?”
In many countries, the water used to steep tea is contaminated with lead from aging pipes. In the United States, nine million homes get their water through pipes that contain lead, according to the Environmental Protection Agency. Lead is especially dangerous to children. Exposure can lead to developmental delays and behavioral issues.
Dr. Dravid and his team tested how different types of tea — black, white, oolong, green, rooibos, herbal, loose leaf and plain old Lipton — behaved in water with varying amounts of lead.
The tea was then allowed to steep for variable periods of time. Afterward, the scientists measured how much lead remained in the water.
Compounds called catechins in tea leaves act like “little Velcro” hooks to which lead molecules latch, said Michelle Francl, a chemist at Bryn Mawr College and the author of a book on the chemistry of tea. Dr. Francl also said that the “ridges and valleys” of the tea leaves provided the necessary surface area for that interaction.
While those properties have been known for some time, Dr. Dravid and his colleagues were the first to look at the lead-detoxifying powers of a single cup of tea. They found that black tea leaves became wrinkled after roasting and were thus best equipped to absorb heavy metals.
“Green tea and black tea had fairly equivalent amounts of metal absorbed,” said another author, Benjamin Shindel, who was a doctoral candidate at Northwestern while working on the study.
White tea, on the other hand, undergoes a much more gentle preparation. Its leaves remain smooth, offering less surface area from which to draw heavy metals from water. Herbal tea enthusiasts may be disappointed to learn that chamomile tea does a poor job of heavy-metal filtering, too, probably because it is made with chamomile flowers, not tea leaves.
Still, these distinctions between different types of tea were not the most relevant factor. “It’s much more important how long you’re brewing the tea for,” Dr. Shindel said.
The researchers found that steeping a cup of black tea for five minutes could remove 15 percent of lead from the water, which is helpful, but there is “no safe level” of lead exposure, according to the E.P.A.
“With lead and other contaminants, any decrease is meaningful to some extent, especially if you have a lack of resources or infrastructure that would already remediate some of these problem materials,” said Caroline Harms, who was an undergraduate student of Dr. Dravid at Northwestern while working on the study.
The longer the steeping time, however, the more bitter the resulting tea. Last year, Dr. Francl caused a minor international scandal by suggesting that adding salt to tea could mitigate its bitterness. But even that controversial chemistry hack has its limits. “It’s not really drinkable after 10 minutes of steeping tea, and no amount of salt is going to help that,” she said.
Some samples in the study had to be steeped for 24 hours, which would render the tea undrinkable.
The study’s authors said they were less motivated to make public health prescriptions for policymakers than to study a hidden benefit of a global habit.
The researchers estimated that a country where people drank large amounts of tea would have about 3 percent less lead ingestion from the water supply than a (hypothetical) identical country that did not drink any tea.
“How wonderful,” said Henrietta Lovell, the founder of the Rare Tea Company. Ms. Lovell, who supplies teas to exclusive restaurants, pointed out that tea had been used in China for medicinal purposes for thousands of years. “The more I learn about tea, the more fabulous and fascinating it becomes,” Ms. Lovell said.
Dr. Francl believes that the new findings could eventually pave the way to a scalable method of making sure people aren’t ingesting heavy metals. “Given that clean water is such a global issue,” she said, “if there was a way to take this proof of concept and tweak it to produce potable water at the end, that would be pretty good.”
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The sudden death of Kyle Busch has drawn attention to a rare but devastating medical progression: when pneumonia escalates into fatal sepsis.
An ER doctor spoke with Fox News Digital about how sepsis can trigger a rapid health decline.
“Sepsis is actually not a specific disease or diagnosis, but rather the syndrome that occurs when the body has certain abnormal findings and a presumed infection,” said Dr. Kenneth J. Perry, a South Carolina-based emergency medicine physician.
HOW PNEUMONIA PROGRESSES TO SEPSIS: DOCTORS EXPLAIN AFTER KYLE BUSCH’S DEATH
The markers of sepsis include elevated white blood cell counts, a high or low temperature, and elevated heart and respiratory rates, according to Perry. Because of this, a patient with pneumonia is often already technically septic by definition.
In the wake of Kyle Busch’s sudden passing, there is a focus on the rapid decline from pneumonia to fatal sepsis. (Getty; iStock)
While many people assume a worsening infection means bacteria are multiplying uncontrollably, it often has more to do with the body’s internal environment.
“It is often not the bacteria itself that is causing the specific decline,” Perry said. “In most cases, it is a cascade of inflammatory processes that are set in motion by the infection.”
When this inflammation spirals out of control, the body moves from having a manageable infection into severe sepsis. This is when otherwise healthy people can rapidly deteriorate.
SURGE IN WALKING PNEUMONIA AFFECTS THESE HIGH-RISK GROUPS, SAYS DR. MARC SIEGEL
“The concerning thing that can happen with any individual … is that sepsis can then lead to low blood pressure, worsening vital signs and organ damage,” Perry said.
“As multiple organs fail, it becomes very difficult for the medical team to treat and can sometimes lead ultimately to death.”
“The medical evaluation provided to the Busch Family concluded that severe pneumonia progressed into sepsis, resulting in rapid and overwhelming associated complications,” the family shared in a statement. (James Gilbert/Getty Images)
It is very unlikely to have pneumonia and not have any symptoms, according to Perry. Early signs can mimic a severe flu, including fevers, chills, a productive cough, and chest or back pain in cases where the lung is infected.
When sepsis begins to take hold, time becomes the most critical factor. “We have known for a number of years that early antibiotic therapy is beneficial in the treatment of sepsis,” Perry said.
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If you or a loved one are managing an infection at home, the doctor says the following red flags mean you should bypass the clinic and head straight to the emergency room.
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- Shortness of breath or difficulty breathing
- A racing heart rate or fever that continues to worsen even after starting treatment
- Severe chest pain associated with a productive cough
The slide into sepsis is, in most cases, a cascade of inflammatory processes that are set in motion by the infection, the doctor said. (iStock)
While cases like Busch’s are tragic, Perry stressed that this shouldn’t cause widespread panic. Most patients with pneumonia do very well with standard oral antibiotics.
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The NASCAR star’s rapid decline underscores the importance of medical vigilance and “having a primary care physician with whom you have a good relationship,” according to the ER doctor.
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“Monitoring symptoms while having easy access to primary care is a very beneficial and appropriate plan for most patients,” he added.
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Popular glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) weight-loss drugs may help slow the spread of some cancers, according to new research to be presented at a major medical conference.
Research led by Cleveland Clinic found that the medications may reduce the spread of several obesity-related cancers, including lung, breast, colorectal and liver cancers.
The findings will be presented at the 2026 ASCO Annual Meeting next week in Chicago.
WEIGHT-LOSS DRUGS NOW LINKED TO CANCER PROTECTION IN WOMEN, MAJOR NEW STUDY REVEALS
According to a press release, the real-world retrospective study included 12,112 patients with the following types of obesity-related cancers, ranging from stage 1 to stage 3.
Popular GLP-1 weight-loss drugs may help slow the spread of some cancers, according to new research to be presented at a major medical conference. (iStock)
- Breast adenocarcinoma
- Prostate adenocarcinoma
- Non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC)
- Colorectal adenocarcinoma
- Hepatocellular carcinoma (liver cancer)
- Renal cell carcinoma
- Pancreatic adenocarcinoma
Half of the participants started a GLP-1 medication – semaglutide, tirzepatide, dulaglutide, liraglutide, lixisenatide or pramlintide – after their cancer diagnosis.
The other half began taking a DPP-4 inhibitor comparator “gliptins,” a different class of diabetes medications, the study noted.
WEIGHT-LOSS DRUGS’ IMPACT ON CANCER RISK REVEALED IN NEW STUDY
Compared to the patients taking gliptins, the GLP-1 users were found to have significantly lower progression to stage 4 disease for four types of cancers.
The biggest risk reduction was for non-small cell lung cancer (50%), followed by breast cancer (43%), colorectal cancer (31%) and liver cancer (38%).
Compared to the patients taking gliptins, the GLP-1 users were found to have significantly lower progression to stage 4 disease for four types of cancers. (iStock)
“Our study found that use of GLP-1 drugs, compared to DPP-4 inhibitors and other antidiabetic drugs, was associated with a meaningful reduction in cancer progression across four solid tumor types,” said lead study author Mark David Orland, MD, of the Taussig Cancer Institute at Cleveland Clinic, in the release. “It provides early evidence that future studies are worth pursuing.”
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Three other types of cancer – prostate, pancreatic and kidney – also had lower rates of spread among those taking GLP-1s, but those differences were “not statistically significant,” the researchers noted.
“Our study found that use of GLP-1 drugs … was associated with a meaningful reduction in cancer progression across four solid tumor types.”
Tumors with higher levels of GLP-1 receptors — proteins that help cells respond to GLP-1 hormones and drugs — were also linked to better survival outcomes, according to the study findings.
Overall, patients whose tumors had more of these receptors were about one-third less likely to die during the study period.
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The incidence of adverse side effects was similar between GLP-1 and gliptin groups.
The findings suggest that GLP-1 pathways may directly influence how some cancers grow or spread, though researchers say more studies are needed to understand the mechanism behind this effect.
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The study, which has not yet been peer-reviewed, had some limitations, according to the researchers. As it was retrospective and observational in design – as opposed to a randomized clinical trial – it couldn’t prove that GLP-1 drugs directly prevent cancer progression.
The findings suggest that GLP-1 pathways may directly influence how some cancers grow or spread, though researchers say more studies are needed to understand the mechanism behind this effect. (iStock)
Other factors, such as participants’ health conditions, weight loss and metabolic improvements, may have influenced the results, researchers noted.
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For some specific cancer types, there may not have been enough patients represented to detect statistically significant differences.
Further randomized clinical trials are needed to evaluate these preliminary findings and to determine the specific ways in which GLP-1s control cancer progression.
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