Green Tea for Pneumonia

Drinking green tea may be protective against pneumonia, a new study published in The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition suggests.

The study followed 40,572 National Health Insurance beneficiaries in Japan (19,079 men and 21,493 women) who were 40-79 years old and did not have histories of cancer, heart attack or stroke. Study participants were examined to determine the potential relationship between green tea consumption and death from pneumonia.

After 12 years of follow up, 406 out of the 34,539 participants included (6,033 lost to follow-up) died from pneumonia. However, drinking green tea daily was associated with significantly lower risks of death from pneumonia among women.

After adjusting for age, smoking status, physical functionality and other risk factors, drinking just one cup of green daily was linked to a 41 percent reduced risk of dying from pneumonia among women. Benefits were greater when green tea consumption increased, as women who reported drinking five or more cups a day had a 47 percent lower risk of dying from pneumonia. These results were not observed in men.

Of the many reported benefits of green tea, these data support the possibility that green tea contains components that help fight against viruses and bacteria. For instance, catechins, a main constituent of green tea, have been suggested to have antiviral activity according to experimental and animal studies.

The findings of this cohort study are suggestive, but drinking green tea is not yet recommended to replace current preventative techniques such as hand washing and yearly flu vaccination.

Other non-pharmacological therapies have also been tested for the prevention of pneumonia and pneumonia-related complications. Chiropractic and chlorophyll are just some of the other integrative therapies with potential immune-regulating effects and suggested protective benefits for pneumonia, but the evidence is not fully supportive.

For more information about pneumonia, please visit Natural Standard's Medical Conditions database.

1. Natural Standard: The Authority on Integrative Medicine. www.naturalstandard.com
2. Watanabe I, Kuriyama S, Kakizaki M, et al. Green tea and death from pneumonia in Japan: the Ohsaki cohort study. Am J Clin Nutr. 2009 Sep;90(3):672-9.