Green Tea
Consider Adding Green Tea to Healthy Diets, AICR Says
At an event held in conjunction with its yearly International Research Conference on Food, Nutrition and Cancer, the American Institute for Cancer Research (AICR) today released the results of two surveys on green tea consumption in the U.S.
An AICR survey of 1,008 Americans telephoned at random found that green tea is the least popular non-alcoholic beverage in the United States. This was echoed by a separate AICR survey of 1,016 Americans which revealed that only 8 percent of Americans say they drink green tea regularly (5 or more times a week).
The AICR cancer experts said the survey results are significant because an increasing amount of scientific evidence " including six papers presented at the International Research Conference on Food, Nutrition and Cancer for the first time " suggests that regular drinking of green tea may have a role in preventing a variety of cancers.
"Our survey shows that consumption of green tea in the U.S. is remarkably low. The overwhelming majority of Americans may be cutting themselves off from the very cancer-protective, health-promoting effects that are beginning to show up again and again in the scientific literature," said Jeffrey R. Prince, AICR Vice President for Education.
Green Tea is Least Popular Non-Alcoholic Beverage in U.S.
In a survey involving 1,008 Americans aged 18 and over who were telephoned at random between June 15 and June 19, 2005, AICR asked people to tell us which beverages they drank, and how much, on a typical day.
Typical Daily Beverage Consumption, U.S.
Beverage and The Percentage of Americans who drink it on a "typical day"
- Bottled Water 72 %
- Soft Drinks 62 %
- Milk 61 %
- Coffee 61 %
- Fruit Juices 51 %
- Black Tea 31 %
- Vegetable Juices 17 %
- Green Tea 15 %
- Beer 14 %
- Cocktails or Hard Liquor 10 %
- Wine 9 %
Green tea was the least popular non-alcoholic beverage among survey respondents. Only 15 percent said they drank green tea on a typical day. (This figure includes hot and cold green tea beverages.)
Asian Green Tea Consumption is Roughly 3 to 4 Cups Per Day
Throughout Asia, green tea is a staple of the diet. Consumption seems lowest among the young, while studies of older populations (ages 70 +) often show that drinking more than 10 cups of green tea per day is not unusual.
From figures reported in various scientific studies of food intake in Asian populations, together with tea industry data, it is possible to extrapolate an average per capita consumption figure of 3 to 4 cups of green tea per day in Japan and China.
Note: A typical Japanese teacup holds 4 fluid ounces or 120 milliliters of tea; a typical American teacup holds 6 fluid ounces or approximately 180 milliliters of tea. Thus, to match the average Asian per capita consumption, an American would have to drink between 2 to 3 cups of green tea per day.
Green Tea Consumption Low Even Among U.S. Green Tea Drinkers
Yet according to the AICR survey on beverage consumption in the U.S., which asked Americans to tell us both what they drank and how much on a typical day, most Americans who drink green tea drink only a single cup per day.
Question: Thinking of the various types of beverages that you drink each day, on a typical day how many glasses/bottles of Green Tea do you drink? Please include both hot and cold Green Tea beverages.
Amount of Green Tea Consumed in the U.S.
Number of Cups and The Percentage of Americans Who Drink This Amount of Green Tea on a Typical Day
- Zero 84.6 %
- One 8.0 %
- Two 4.2 %
- Three 0.9 %
- Four 1.0 %
- Five 0.5 %
- Six or More 0.6 %
- Don't Know 0.3 %
Nearly 1 in 12 of those surveyed (8 percent) said they drink a single cup of green tea per day. Another 4.2 percent said they typically drink two cups.
But less than 1 in 100 Americans surveyed (0.9 percent) currently drink enough green tea to match the average per capita intake found in Asian countries.
In fact, according the survey results, the average per capita intake of green tea in the United States is less than 1/3 of a cup per day. (This figure (0.29 cups) is arrived at by calculating the mean of the cup per day intake for all Americans, including those who said they drink zero cups per day.)
Another Angle: Comparing Frequency of Green Tea Consumption in US, Japan
A second, separate AICR survey was conducted between June 17 and June 21, 2005. In this survey, a different set of 1016 adults were telephoned at random and asked how often they drank specific beverages, including green tea.
This survey was conducted to ask about U.S. green tea consumption in a slightly different way: a way that would "double check" AICR's first survey results and enable more direct comparisons to Asian green tea consumption.
Recently, the results of a large Japanese food intake survey, the so-called JACC Study, asked over 100,000 Japanese subjects to fill out a food-frequency questionnaire. The authors of this study published the results in March 2005 issue of the Journal of Epidemiology (Iso H, et al. J Epidemiol. 2005 Mar;15 Suppl 1:S24-42.) The study is the first to provide a comprehensive picture of the Japanese diet.
One of the many dietary factors reported in the JACC study was the intake of green tea. Respondents were asked to quantify their green tea intake in the following way:
- Rarely or never
- Once or twice a month
- Once or twice a week
- Three to four times a week
- Five or more times a week
The second AICR beverage survey asked Americans how frequently they consumed various beverages, including green tea. Respondents were asked to quantify the frequency of their consumption in accordance with the scheme used in the JACC study.
Note that the AICR survey was a telephone survey involving 1,016 subjects, and the JACC used a self-administered questionnaire sent to over 110,000 subjects. Although the JACC has a greater statistical power, a general comparison to AICR's survey is useful.
Frequency of Green Tea Intake, U.S. vs. Japan*
- Rarely or Never - 68 % - 8 %
- Once or Twice a Month - 8 % - 7 %
- Once or Twice a Week - 8 % - 6 %
- Three or Four Times a Week - 6 % - 14 %
- Five or More Times a Week - 8 % - 65 %
*Source: J Epidemiol. 2005 Mar;15 Suppl 1:S24-42.
The U.S. numbers above echo those from the first AICR beverage survey: Adding together the percentage of Americans who said they drink green tea three or four times a week (6 percent) and five or more times a week (8 percent) yields 14 percent, which is roughly the percentage of Americans who said they drank green tea "on a typical day" in the first AICR survey (15 percent.)
When these U.S. figures are compared to consumption patterns in Japan, however, they paint a picture of two societies whose green tea drinking habits are sharply at odds.
Seven in ten U.S. respondents (68 percent) said they drank green tea rarely or never, compared to only 8 percent of Japanese respondents.
A total of 22 percent of Americans said they drank green tea at least once a week. (This figure was achieved by adding together all those who answered "Once or twice a week," "three or four times a week" and "five or more times a week.") In Japan, an overwhelming 85 percent of respondents said they drank green tea at least once a week.
Only 8 percent of Americans make green tea a regular part of their diet, and drink it five or more times a week. In Japan, 65 percent of the population drinks green tea five or more times a week.
AICR Suggests Increasing Consumption of Green Tea
According to tea industry figures, American consumption of green tea has jumped in the last four years from just 4 percent of all tea consumed in the U.S. to approximately 9 percent today.
AICR believes this trend should continue, and urges those concerned about lowering risk for cancer to consider adding green tea to a diet that is rich in a variety of plant foods and low in fat and salt. The AICR announcement is based on the ever-growing amount of research on the cancer-protective potential of green tea (see the AICR Fact Sheet: Green Tea) and the results of these latest AICR surveys showing that consumption in the U.S. remains very low.
Clinical trials are now underway to determine the precise amount of green tea needed for maximum anti-cancer activity. Until those results come in, researchers who have studied green tea in Asian populations note that drinking between three to four cupsof green tea (an amount roughly equivalent to 2 to 3 U.S. teacups) per day has been associated with cancer protection in many studies.
The American Institute for Cancer Research (AICR) is the cancer charity that fosters research on diet and cancer and educates the public about the results. It has contributed more than $72 million for innovative research conducted at universities, hospitals and research centers across the country. AICR also provides a wide range of educational programs to help millions of Americans learn to make dietary changes for lower cancer risk. Its award-winning New American Plate program is presented in brochures, seminars and on its website, www.aicr.org AICR is a member of the World Cancer Research Fund International. - WASHINGTON, DC