My uncle's long-term drinking of strong tea actually induced gallstones! What kind of tea is considered "strong tea"?

Editor: He Jian

In the past two days, taking advantage of the slightly cooler weather and better appetite, Uncle Wang's family followed the old custom of "putting on weight in autumn". That night, chicken, duck, fish and other delicacies were served, and the 73-year-old Uncle Wang ate with a mouth full of fragrance, and then habitually drank a large cup of strong tea, hoping to "shave off the fat".

Unexpectedly, around 10 pm, Uncle Wang began to have abdominal pain and a high fever of 39°C. He went to the hospital and was diagnosed with intrahepatic bile duct stones with acute obstructive suppurative cholangitis. To the surprise of the doctors, Uncle Wang had undergone six surgical operations before, including cholecystectomy, common bile duct stone removal, choledochojejunostomy, and left hepatectomy. It was only a few years after the last operation, and he had to go to the hospital again. The doctor believed that the long-term recurrence of the disease was related to Uncle Wang's long-term drinking of a large amount of strong tea.

Why does drinking strong tea induce gallstones?

Shen Guoliang, deputy chief physician of hepatobiliary and pancreatic surgery at Zhejiang Provincial People's Hospital, explained that his uncle heard many years ago that drinking strong tea can dissolve greasiness and is a "folk remedy" for preventing stones. Therefore, since he developed bile duct stones, he has habitually drunk strong tea every day. In fact , strong tea not only does not "remove grease", but is also one of the high-risk factors for stone recurrence .

Shen Guoliang believes that strong tea contains high levels of caffeine and theophylline. Long-term excessive intake will stimulate bile secretion, increase the burden on the bile duct system, and induce or aggravate the formation of bile duct stones. Long-term drinking of strong tea becomes a "booster" and, combined with other pathogenic factors, increases the chance of recurrence of bile duct stones.

What are the other dangers of drinking strong tea?

Drinking tea has always been a traditional hobby of the Chinese people, and many people prefer "strong tea", thinking that strong tea tastes stronger. In fact, drinking tea is good for the human body. However, this is only true when drinking light tea in moderation. Drinking too much strong tea can lead to a variety of health problems.

Wang Xin, deputy chief physician of the Department of Cardiology at Jilin People's Hospital, pointed out that the fluoride content in strong tea is relatively high. Drinking too strong tea for a long time can easily cause tooth decay and also leave a layer of black glaze on the surface of the teeth.

Drinking strong tea often can cause osteoporosis . This is because strong tea contains a lot of caffeine, which can inhibit the absorption of calcium by the duodenum and accelerate the excretion of calcium in the urine. Due to the dual effects of inhibiting absorption and accelerating excretion, calcium deficiency in the body is easy to induce calcium loss in the bones. Over time, osteoporosis will occur and fractures are prone to occur.

Drinking strong tea can cause excessive secretion of gastric acid , because the alkaloids in tea can reduce the activity of phosphodiesterase, which can inhibit the secretion of gastric acid by gastric parietal cells, causing the gastric parietal cells to secrete a large amount of gastric acid, which can easily form gastric and intestinal ulcers over time or make existing ulcers difficult to heal.

Drinking strong tea regularly may cause constipation . Tea polyphenols in tea have a strong astringent effect on the gastrointestinal mucosa. Strong tea has a high content of tea polyphenols, which makes the astringency stronger. It will slow down the contraction of the stomach and the peristalsis of the intestines, thus affecting the digestion and absorption of food, and easily causing dry stools or even constipation.

In addition, drinking a lot of tea will also cause the loss of many nutrients . Nutrition experts have found that modern people's malnutrition is not caused by poor diet, but by the imbalance of nutrients. Among them, tea is one of the factors causing nutritional imbalance. Because excessive tea drinking will increase urine volume, causing the loss of important nutrients such as magnesium, potassium, and B vitamins. Therefore, not only should tea not be too strong, but it should also be avoided that a large amount of water enters the body through repeated brewing, causing nutrients to be lost with urine.

What is considered "strong tea"?

Wang Yuefei, director of the Tea Research Institute of Zhejiang University, said that there is no unified definition of strong tea . The main functional ingredients in tea are tea polyphenols, caffeine and theanine. Tea polyphenols make tea astringent, caffeine brings bitterness to tea, and theanine makes tea taste fresher. When too much tea leaves are added, the bitterness of the tea soup will increase, the freshness will be relatively weakened, and the color of the tea soup will become darker. This is what people often call strong tea. However, the strength of tea is related to personal taste and feelings, and there is no absolute standard for measurement. For example, tea lovers who have been drinking tea for many years have adapted to the bitter taste of tea, and strong tea in the eyes of ordinary people may not be considered strong for them. People who do not drink tea often or are used to drinking light tea will not accept a slightly stronger brew.

Wang Yuefei said that because the types of teas used are different and personal tea drinking habits are different, there is no fixed standard for the tea-water ratio. However, if you can brew tea according to the best tea-water ratio for each type of tea, the color, aroma and taste of the tea will be brought to the extreme . The standard amount of tea for most famous and high-quality teas (green tea, black tea, yellow tea, and scented tea) is 1 gram of dry tea with 50 milliliters of water, that is, the tea-water ratio is 1:50; the tea-water ratio for ordinary bulk teas (green tea, black tea, yellow tea, and scented tea) is 1:75. The amount of tea for black tea, white tea, and oolong tea should be more, among which the tea-water ratio for black tea is 1:50~1:30, the tea-water ratio for white tea is 1:25~1:20, and the tea-water ratio for oolong tea is about 1:15.

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