Does milk ruin tea?

From Nature:

Here's a ray of hope for milky-tea drinkers: new research shows that the quaint British custom of adding milk doesn't ruin the beneficial properties of the traditional drink. Previous studies have suggested that milk can cancel the antioxidant effects of certain chemicals known as polyphenols, found in black tea. Media headlines warned drinkers not to 'ruin' their tea with milk. But the latest study, by Janet Kyle and her colleagues at the University of Aberdeen, UK, didn't find any evidence for this effect.

The answer is not definitive says Simon Langley-Evans, from the University of Nottingham, UK. Langley-Evans conducted a similar trial in 2000 yet found that for some, but not all, of his trial subjects milk completely wiped out the antioxidant properties of tea. "The situation is a bit muddy at the moment, and this just adds to the mud," he says of the latest news. What should follow from this work is a larger trial, in which more concrete conclusions can be drawn, he suggests.

More here.

Comments

[Pritesh]

I believe the custom of adding milk to tea is a Indian, not British.

[elemgee]

What about soy milk or cream?

[Triskele]

elemgee -

there's a good chance that soy might be ok. The effect is believed to be due to the casein protein found in milk (which would therefore also apply to dairy cream)

[Darjeeling]

1. The custom of pouring milk in tea is Indian, not British. Britain discovered the joys of tea after trading with India and China.

2. Most of the tea consumed in the UK is grown in the Indian Sub-continent. It always has been.

3. Milky tea drinkers in India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka not only outnumber tea drinkers in the UK, they outnumber the entire population of the UK.

I rest my case.

;)

[Saij]

I don't tend to add milk to my tea, but I consume a lot of both of them. I don't think it tastes bad to combine the two, but it isn't my thing. I guess that means I don't have to worry.

Similarly, EGCG supplementation should be taken separately from your regular tea drink for optimal results.

I think there comes a point, though, where one should just enjoy their tea and be done with it.

[kolkata]

Love tea with milk- evaporated or with half and half. Wouldn't drinking plenty of tea negate the effects of cream? I gave up coffee for tea. OK, I go to *$$ every once in a while!

Also, this article is about health ramifications of tea with milk, why are you all so concerned about whose custom it is or has been? Or how many people in India outnumber tea drinkers in the UK.... relax!

[Sam]

Truth be told, Indians add tea to milk!

[Bob G]

Esophageal cancer apparently went up after tea became popular in England and the addition of milk brought it down again. One theory was that the tannins in English tea were carcinogenic, but milk neutralizes that effect.

[aguy109]

Tea drinking is such a wonderful section of human culture that it deserves a better place than a post about suspected health hazard. Of course the Indians drank it before the British, since it grows in India!
Lots of factors go into making a good cup of tea great, such as warming the pot, pouring the milk first, stirring clockwise, the shape of the cup and especially the company you drink with.
I hold that the tea bag is a corrupt invention that panders to our craving for convenience, but I confess that I have often sinned in this respect. Manufacturers often shove all kinds of inferior ingredients into tea bags, such as dust and (proverbially) camel dung.

[Chuck]

There are no carcinogenic tannins in tea. The observed cancers were probably from stomach acid after drinking excessive tea, or, more likely, smoking. Correlations are not often evidence of causation.

[Randy]

Actually, according to James Norwood Pratt, an authority on tea, the tea plant, camillia sinensis, is indiginous to India. Over the centuries, however, it died out, and only China produced any tea at all. Then the Brits started trading with China to get their tea, but little was drunk in India at that time. This was the case until the beginning of the 19th century.

But tea trading with China was costly, so the Brits elsewhere. Since they already controlled so many parts of India by the early 19th C., they tried their hand at growing tea in India. It worked, and so they began to sell their tea to Indian, Brits and everyone else around the world, making huge profits. This, of course, decimated the Chinese trade and exasperated their economic situation, leading to social unrest and revolution.

The first people who added milk to tea were the French, as described in the letters of Mme. de Sevigne in the last part of the 17th C. The custom moved to England, and so by the 18th C., you see evidence of tea sets -- pewter, silver or porcelain tea pots, sugar bowls and creamers. Since the Indians didn't start drinking tea on a regular basis until the 19th C., they likely picked up the custom of adding milk from the Brits.