Association of green tea consumption with mortality due to all causes and major causes of death in a Japanese population: the Japan Public Health Center-based Prospective Study (JPHC Study)

Abstract

Purpose: We examined the association between green tea consumption and mortality due to all causes, cancer, heart disease, cerebrovascular disease, respiratory disease, injuries, and other causes of death in a large-scale population-based cohort study in Japan.

Methods: We studied 90,914 Japanese (aged between 40 and 69 years) recruited between 1990 and 1994. After 18.7 years of follow-up, 12,874 deaths were reported. The association between green tea consumption and risk of all causes and major causes of mortality was assessed using the Cox proportional hazards regression model with adjustment for potential confounders.

Results: Hazard ratios for all-cause mortality among men who consumed green tea compared with those who drank less than 1 cup/day were 0.96 (0.89-1.03) for 1-2 cups/day, 0.88 (0.82-0.95) for 3-4 cups/day, and 0.87 (0.81-0.94) for more than 5 cups/day (P for trend <.001). Corresponding hazard ratios for women were 0.90 (0.81-1.00), 0.87 (0.79-0.96), and 0.83 (0.75-0.91; P for trend <.001). Green tea was inversely associated with mortality from heart disease in both men and women and mortality from cerebrovascular disease and respiratory disease in men. No association was found between green tea and total cancer mortality.

Conclusions: This prospective study suggests that the consumption of green tea may reduce the risk of all-cause mortality and the three leading causes of death in Japan.

Keywords: Adult; Cardiovascular diseases/mortality; Follow-up studies; Japan/epidemiology; Proportional hazards models; Respiratory diseases/mortality; Tea.