Tea consumption is inversely related to waist circumference and body weight in U.S. Adults

The objective of this study was to determine the relationship between hot tea consumption and obesity in a representative sample of 6,354 adults (55% female) from the 2003–2006 NHANES surveys. Tea consumption was evaluated using both food frequency questionnaires and two non‐consecutive 24‐hour dietary recalls. Participants were coded into one of four categories of tea consumption: non‐consumers, occasional tea drinker (few cups/month), regular tea drinkers (5–7 cups/week) or daily tea drinkers (≥2 cups/day). Approximately 25% (n=1,526) of this sample reported tea consumption of any kind; 11% (n=693) were considered regular tea consumers. We found a negative linear relationship between tea consumption and two different markers for obesity: waist circumference (WC) and BMI. Non‐consumers had a significantly higher mean WC than daily tea drinkers (101.5 vs. 97.0 cm, p=0.002 in men; 94.8 vs. 89.0 cm p<0.001 in women) as well as a significantly higher BMI (28.5 vs. 26.2, p=0.002 in men; 28.7 vs. 25.7 p<0.001 in women) after controlling for age, income, education, marital status, exercise, and total caloric intake. This finding suggests a relationship between tea consumption and obesity, and warrants future studies to directly evaluate the effect of tea consumption on weight gain.