Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2019 Nov 3;11(11):2635.
doi: 10.3390/nu11112635.

Tea Consumption Patterns in Relation to Diet Quality among Children and Adults in the United States: Analyses of NHANES 2011-2016 Data

Florent Vieux  1 , Matthieu Maillot  2 , Colin D Rehm  3 , Adam Drewnowski  4
Affiliations

Tea Consumption Patterns in Relation to Diet Quality among Children and Adults in the United States: Analyses of NHANES 2011-2016 Data

Florent Vieux et al. Nutrients. .

Abstract

Flavonoid-rich tea offers an alternative to sugar-sweetened beverages. The present analyses, based on 2 24-hour dietary recalls for 17,506 persons aged ≥9 years old in the 2011-2016 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey database (NHANES 2011-2016), explored tea consumption patterns in relation to demographics, diet quality, cardiovascular disease (CVD) biomarkers (lipids and blood pressure), and body weight. Beverage categories were unsweetened tea, other tea (herbal and presweetened tea), coffee, milk, 100% juice, water and other high-calorie (HC) and low-calorie (LC) beverages. Tea consumption (18.5% of the sample) was highest among older adults (51-70 years old), non-Hispanic Asians and Whites, and those with college education and higher incomes. The effects of age, gender, education, income, and race/ethnicity were all significant (p < 0.001 for all). Adult tea consumers had diets with more protein, fiber, potassium, iron, and magnesium, and less added sugars and alcohol. Their diets contained fewer HC beverages and coffee but had more total and citrus fruit, more total dark green and orange vegetables, and more seafood, eggs, soy and milk. Tea consumers had higher Healthy Eating Index (HEI-2015) and higher Nutrient-Rich Foods (NRF9.3) nutrient density scores. Few children drank tea and no differences in diet quality between consumers and non-consumers were observed. Adult tea consumers had slightly higher high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol and lower body mass index (BMI) values. Tea consumption was associated with higher socioeconomic status and better diets.

Keywords: BMI; CVD biomarkers; Healthy Eating Index 2015; Nutrient-Rich Foods (NRF9.3); beverages; consumption; demographics; diet quality; socioeconomic status; tea.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

F.V. and M.M. are employed by MS-Nutrition, a data analysis and research consulting firm. A.D. has received grants, contracts, honoraria and speaking fees from both public and private entities with an interest in the nutrient profiling of individual foods and total diets. C.D.R. has no conflicts of interest to report. The funders had no role in the design of the study; in the collection, analyses, or interpretation of data; in the writing of the manuscript, or in the decision to publish the results.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Tea and beverage consumption patterns by age group. Top panel shows amounts in g/day, while bottom panel shows percentages of total beverage consumption by beverage category.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Tea and beverage consumption patterns by race/ethnicity. Top panel shows amounts in g/day, while bottom panel shows percentages of total beverage consumption by beverage category.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Tea and beverage consumption patterns among adults by education. Top panel shows amounts in g/day, while bottom panel shows percentages of total beverage consumption by beverage category.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

See all "Cited by" articles

References

    1. Grigg D. The worlds of tea and coffee: Patterns of consumption. GeoJournal. 2002;57:283–294. doi: 10.1023/B:GEJO.0000007249.91153.c3. - DOI
    1. Hayat K., Iqbal H., Malik U., Bilal U., Mushtaq S. Tea and its consumption: Benefits and risks. Crit. Rev. Food Sci. Nutr. 2015;55:939–954. doi: 10.1080/10408398.2012.678949. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Landais E., Moskal A., Mullee A., Nicolas G., Gunte M.J., Huybrechts I., Overvad K., Roswall N., Affret A., Fagherazz G., et al. Coffee and tea consumption and the contribution of their added ingredients to total energy and nutrient intakes in 10 European countries: Benchmark data from the late 1990s. Nutrients. 2018;10:725. doi: 10.3390/nu10060725. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Lieberman H.R., Agarwal S., Fulgoni V.L. Daily patterns of caffeine intake and the association of intake with multiple sociodemographic and lifestyle factors in US adults Based on the NHANES 2007–2012 Surveys. J. Acad. Nutr. Diet. 2019;119:106–114. doi: 10.1016/j.jand.2018.08.152. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Drewnowski A., Rehm C.D., Constant F. Water and beverage consumption among adults in the United States: Cross-sectional study using data from NHANES 2005–2010. BMC Public Health. 2013;13:1068. doi: 10.1186/1471-2458-13-1068. - DOI - PMC - PubMed

LinkOut - more resources