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.”
NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles!
Officials in Tiburon, California, have moved to prohibit the sale of all tobacco.
On Wednesday, the town council unanimously passed an ordinance that would ban the sale of cigarettes, cigars, vapes, e-cigarettes and all other nicotine products.
Tiburon Mayor Holli Thier told Fox News Digital in a statement that she is “pleased to have sponsored” and “voted to save lives and save our environment.”
SMOKING BANNED FOR ENTIRE GENERATION UNDER SWEEPING NEW NATIONAL LAW
“With local youth in Marin County vaping at twice the national average, it is critical that we take all efforts to reduce teen addiction,” she added. “By banning all tobacco sales here in Tiburon, we are preventing youth from getting addicted and protecting our environment.”
Cigarettes are the biggest source of single-use plastic finding its way into rivers, bays and oceans in the world, Thier said.
Officials in Tiburon, California, have moved forward to prohibit the sale of tobacco products in the Bay Area. (iStock)
An anti-tobacco group of high school students from across Marin County, the Youth Advocacy Committee (YAC), were present at a few town council meetings to advocate for the ordinance.
Diana Garcia, a YAC student, reiterated her strong support for the ban.
“I urge you to keep supporting this amendment to protect the health and future of our youth. You have a chance to set an example for communities to follow,” she said at the Nov. 5 meeting.
In 2022, nearly 50 million U.S. adults reported the use of any tobacco product, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
CLICK HERE TO SIGN UP FOR OUR HEALTH NEWSLETTER
The CDC also reports that smoking and secondhand smoke exposure cause over 480,000 deaths each year, with “smoking harm[ing] nearly every organ of the body and caus[ing] many diseases.”
The new anti-tobacco ordinance is set to take effect in December. (iStock)
The 2023 County Health Rankings & Roadmaps report by the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine ranked Marin County as the healthiest California county.
“We remain committed to doing the hard work and changing the outcomes so all in Marin can thrive and live healthy lives,” said Niccore Tyler, Marin County’s health and human services’ chief strategy officer, at the time.
TEST YOURSELF WITH OUR LATEST LIFESTYLE QUIZ
The California Fuels & Convenience Alliance penned an opposition letter to the town council.
“We believe this complete prohibition sends a discouraging message to small businesses and entrepreneurs. Small businesses, including convenience stores and gas stations, are essential to communities and provide residents with convenient access to everyday necessities,” it read.
Nearly 50 million U.S. adults reported the use of any tobacco product in 2022. (iStock)
“Complete prohibitions on product categories, rather than reasonable regulation, send a message that small businesses may face unpredictable restrictions, creating uncertainty that discourages entrepreneurship and investment in Tiburon,” the letter continued.
CLICK HERE FOR MORE HEALTH STORIES
The ordinance is set to take effect in December.
Use left and right arrow keys to navigate between menu items.
Use escape to exit the menu.
Sign Up
Create a free account to access exclusive content, play games, solve puzzles, test your pop-culture knowledge and receive special offers.
Already have an account? Login
NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles!
Chronic kidney disease has been named the ninth leading cause of global death.
Record numbers of men and women are currently estimated to have reduced kidney function, according to new research following a study published in the journal The Lancet.
Researchers at NYU Langone Health, the University of Glasgow, and the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME) at the University of Washington analyzed the rise of kidney disease worldwide.
CUTTING OUT ALCOHOL AND MEDICATING SOONER COULD PREVENT ‘SILENT KILLER,’ EXPERTS SAY
They examined 2,230 published papers and health datasets from 133 countries, searching for diagnoses, mortality and the toll of disability from the disease.
From 1990 to 2023, cases rose from 378 million to 788 million, landing the disease in the top 10 of most deadly diseases in the world for the first time.
The largest risk factors for kidney disease include high blood sugar, high blood pressure and high body mass index (BMI). (iStock)
The research, conducted as part of the Global Burden of Disease 2023 study, also revealed that about 14% of the world’s adult population has chronic kidney disease. About 1.5 million people died from kidney disease in 2023, an increase of more than 6% since 1993.
Most people in the study were in early stages of the disease, which can be improved with drugs and lifestyle changes before dialysis or surgery becomes necessary, the researchers noted.
The research, which was presented last week at the American Society of Nephrology’s annual Kidney Week conference, marks “the most comprehensive estimate of the condition in nearly a decade,” according to the authors.
DIABETES STUDY REVEALS DIAGNOSIS GAP AFFECTING MILLIONS OF PEOPLE
Chronic kidney disease causes the kidneys to lose the ability to filter waste and excess fluid from the blood, NYU Langone detailed.
Mild cases may not show any symptoms, but those in the most advanced stages can require dialysis, kidney replacement therapy or an organ transplant.
Chronic kidney disease causes the kidneys to lose the ability to filter waste and excess fluid from the blood. (iStock)
Impaired kidney function was also identified as a key risk factor for heart disease, contributing to about 12% of global cardiovascular mortality.
The largest risk factors for kidney disease, based on the study findings, include high blood sugar, high blood pressure and high body mass index (BMI).
CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP
Study co-senior author Josef Coresh, M.D., Ph.D., director of NYU Langone’s Optimal Aging Institute, said these results classify chronic kidney disease as “common, deadly and getting worse as a major public health issue.”
“These findings support efforts to recognize the condition alongside cancer, heart disease and mental health concerns as a major priority for policymakers around the world,” he said in a statement.
Kidney disease may show no symptoms, yet can ultimately require dialysis or organ transplantation. (iStock)
Study co-lead author Morgan Grams, M.D., Ph.D., the Susan and Morris Mark Professor of Medicine at the NYU Grossman School of Medicine, also commented that chronic kidney disease is “underdiagnosed and undertreated.”
“Our report underscores the need for more urine testing to catch it early and the need to ensure that patients can afford and access therapy once they are diagnosed,” she wrote.
CLICK HERE TO SIGN UP FOR OUR HEALTH NEWSLETTER
New medications have recently become available that can slow disease progression and reduce the risk of heart attack, stroke and heart failure, although it may take time to see the global impact, Grams added.
A doctor urged physicians to be more aware of kidney function and the impact of certain medications. (iStock)
Fox News senior medical analyst Dr. Marc Siegel commented on the “dramatic increase” in an interview with Fox News Digital, agreeing that kidney disease is “vastly underestimated and underdiagnosed,” in part due to lack of symptoms in early stages.
“The kidneys are filters of waste and managers of electrolytes and acid/base balance,” said Siegel, who was not involved in the study. “They are very sensitive to changes in blood pressure and blood flow, and can lead to loss of protein and electrolytes when damaged.”
TEST YOURSELF WITH OUR LATEST LIFESTYLE QUIZ
“High blood pressure, obesity, heart disease, diabetes and low blood pressure all impact basic kidney function, so there is a high degree of secondary kidney disease and failure in addition to primary damage to the kidneys themselves,” the doctor added.
CLICK HERE FOR MORE HEALTH STORIES
Siegel urged physicians to be more aware of kidney function and the impact of certain medications.
This study was funded by the National Institutes of Health, the Gates Foundation and the National Kidney Foundation.
Google to integrate Kalshi, Polymarket predictions into its finance AI tools
Chop your way to higher T: How this power move fires up your hormones
‘The Carpenter’s Son’ Review: Nicolas Cage and FKA Twigs Headline a Biblical Horror Film So Bad It’s (Almost) Good
Jimmy Kimmel’s Bandleader Cleto Escobedo III Dies at 59: We’ve Been ‘Inseparable Since I Was Nine Years Old’
Video: ‘Flesh’ by David Szalay Wins 2025 Booker Prize
Florida High School Football Rankings: Top 25 teams – Oct. 21
How old is Bo Nix? What to know about Oregon quarterback ahead of 2024 NFL Draft
Cleary's 21 help Le Moyne down Central Connecticut State 69-64 in OT
99th annual Pony Swim held in Virginia
Video: ‘It Didn’t Have to Happen This Way:’ U.Va. Faculty Call for Review of Police Response to Protests
Far-left firebrand spends eye-popping amount of campaign cash on luxury hotels, ‘top-tier’ limo services
Asylum seekers will be relocated from Spain, Italy, Greece and Cyprus
Newsom claims Trump is ‘handing the future to China’ at Brazilian climate confab that WH skipped
How Every Senator Voted on Passing the Bill to End the Shutdown
Stefanik receives top Jewish award days after announcing New York governor bid at Manhattan gala
-
Austin, TX6 days agoHalf-naked woman was allegedly tortured and chained in Texas backyard for months by five ‘friends’ who didn’t ‘like her anymore’
-
Hawaii3 days agoMissing Kapolei man found in Waipio, attorney says
-
Southwest4 days agoTexas launches effort to install TPUSA in every high school and college
-
Seattle, WA1 week agoESPN scoop adds another intriguing name to Seahawks chatter before NFL trade deadline
-
New Jersey2 days agoPolice investigate car collision, shooting in Orange, New Jersey
-
World6 days agoIsrael’s focus on political drama rather than Palestinian rape victim
-
Seattle, WA3 days agoSoundgarden Enlist Jim Carrey and Seattle All-Stars for Rock Hall 2025 Ceremony
-
Southwest1 week agoArmy veteran-turned-MAGA rising star jumps into fiery GOP Senate primary as polls tighten