We usually hear only about the great and many benefits of drinking tea - there are so many of those that we are bound to hear of them a lot. This blog has also spoken often about the many health benefits of drinking tea. However can tea also be bad for you? Can there be any ill effects of drinking tea as well?

Well in some cases, there could be some adverse effects that could result from drinking too much tea - everything is moderation being good for us and excess of anything being bad. Similarly excess tea drinking has on occasion been associated with some problems:

Sleep Problems

Tea does contain some significant amounts of caffeine, though these caffeine levels are far lesser than those found in coffee. So if a person is very sensitive to the effects of caffeine, they may find that drinking a lot of tea during the day and in particular shortly before bed time, can impact their sleep negatively - they may have difficulty getting to sleep or the quality of sleep may suffer.

Kidney Problems

This is noted in some rare cases - that those who drink very excessive amounts of tea (and we are not speaking about 4 to 5 cups a day but even more) may suffer some kidney damage. Certain teas contain oxalates that could be responsible for causing kidney damage. And even this link between kidney damage and tea drinking is not very well established.

Bone Problems

New research has raised some questions about the kinds of tea that contain too much fluoride - it has now been found that certain kinds of black tea may contain higher concentrations of fluoride than earlier thought. Again it isn’t the moderate tea drinkers of up to 4 cups of tea who need be concerned, it is the really heavy drinkers that need be concerned - the fluoride content could cause bone problems.

Skeletal flourosis is a problem caused by consumption of too much fluoride - and which can result in joint deterioration or damage. The symptoms could be pain in the bones and joints. Also it was seen that tea prepared and drunk the traditional way was not harmful - but when it was made in a way that leached too much of it into the drink there were problems. Certain teas grown in certain areas also were seen to have high aluminum content by researchers which can at times leach into the beverage.

Poor Quality Tea

When tea is of an inferior quality or is pumped with fillers to make it cheaper or heavier, this could lead to problems as well. So it is best to stick to good quality tea from reputed manufacturers.

Tags: bones, harmful effects, Health, kidney, quality, sleep, tea