Finely ground tea leaves, particularly black tea leaves, removed slightly more metal ions than whole leaves.
Benjamin Shindel, the study’s first author, said: “Across a population, if people drink an extra cup of tea per day, maybe over time we’d see declines in illnesses that are closely correlated with exposure to heavy metals.
He and his colleagues explored how different types of tea, tea bags and brewing methods affected heavy metal removal.
“Or it could help explain why populations that drink more tea may have lower incidence rates of heart disease and stroke than populations that have lower tea consumption.”.
Heavy metals are absorbed on the surface of the tea leaves, where they stay trapped, researchers at Northwestern University in the US found.
