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four to six mugs a day sans sugar are said to have health benefits

Even as more and more guests jump on the green tea and herbal tea bandwagon, Indian hoteliers could soon see guests opting for the various regular teas again.

A study which has been published in the British Journal of Nutrition has found that drinking four to six mugs of tea daily offers the same benefits of a litre of water in terms of body hydration.

The finding obviously dispaces the popular belief that regular tea drinking can dehydrate the body because of its caffeine content. The study found that the four to six mugs of tea a day would have no negative health effects. If popularised, this finding could well reverse or at least stall the paradigm shift away from desi chai.

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The sample of 21 volunteers at the UK clinical trial drank either four 240ml mugs of tea over a 12-hour slot - equivalent to a little less than a litre of tea - or a similar amount of plain, boiled water served warm. Incidently, the tea included 20ml of semi-skimmed milk but no sugar.

The experiment was then repeated, this time using six cups of tea or plain water, equal to nearly 1.5 litres of fluid, to investigate the effect of intakes.

Blood samples were taken prior to consumption and at regular intervals to keep an eye on hydration levels. Analysis found no significant differences between drinking tea and water.