Association Between Green Tea Intake And Coronary Artery Disease In A Chinese Population

Background: There is still conflicting evidence that green tea may protect against coronary atherosclerosis therefore the present study investigated the association between green tea consumption and arteriographically determined coronary atherosclerosis in a Chinese population. Methods and Results: The study population consisted of 520 consecutive patients (379 men and 141 women) who underwent coronary arteriography for the first time. Patients were divided into 2 groups (Non-coronary artery disease [CAD] and CAD groups) according to the results of coronary arteriography. Coronary artery disease (CAD) was defined as a stenosis >50% in the left main trunk or in the other major coronary arteries (left anterior descending coronary artery [LAD], left circumflex coronary artery [LCX] and right coronary artery [RCA]). Information on duration, frequency, quantity, concentration, starting age, type of tea consumption and lifestyle were collected before CAG using a structured questionnaire by trained interviewers. After adjusting the established and potential confounders, green tea consumption was associated with a reduced risk of CAD in male patients, with an adjusted odds ratio (OR) of 0.62 (95% confidence interval, 0.38–1.01) compared with those who did not drink green tea. Compared to non-tea drinkers, the adjusted ORs were 1.09 (0.61–1.96) in male patients consuming less than 125 g of dried green tea leaves per month, 0.36 (0.19–0.71) for 125–249 g per month and 0.36 (0.17–0.73) for≥250 g per month, with a statistically significant test for trend (P<0.001). Similar dose–response relationships were also observed for frequency (P_{for trend}=0.008), duration (P_{for trend}=0.004), concentration (P_{for trend}=0.001) and starting age of green tea drinking (P_{for trend}=0.001) in male patients. In female patients, no inverse association was found between green tea consumption and CAD, the adjusted OR was 0.65(0.27-1.57).Conclusions: Green tea consumption can protect against the development of coronary atherosclerosis in Chinese male patients.