Can a person really drink too much tea? I drink about 6 - 8 cups of tea a day. 1 to 2 of black tea in the morning, 2 to 3 of green tea throughout the day, 1 cup of pu-erh tea usually around lunch time, 1 or 2 cups of white tea throughout the day. I don't drink coffee anymore, I don't drink soda at all, I still drink at least 30 oz of water a day (but often between 60 - 80 oz). I also don't drink milk or really anything else (other than I have exactly 4 oz of orange juice every morning with my pills - I can't take my pills any other way).
Too much or does it really matter?
Lots of really interesting thoughts on this! I see several posters were concerned about "excessive thirst" and its relation to diabetes. However, I do think that a person's liquid intake has a lot of variables, so what might be "too much" for one person, isn't enough for another. It is very dry in my house in the winter (and it is still "winter" where I live for another month) due to the furnace running all the time AND I exercise at least twice a day. I always drink a bottle of water before I even get out of bed for the day and a bottle after each workout. Just those three already gets me to 50 oz without even counting water drank with meals or a third workout. I estimate my caffeine levels at no more than 250 a day (400 is considered "high" so nearly 1/2) on my highest days and below 200 on my lower days (I switch between teas so my caffeine intake can really bounce around). Also, I think that when people look at "cups" and serving size, mine is much more realistic at about 6 oz for each cup of tea. I see people with these huge bowls with a handle and call it a "cup of coffee."
I am going to check on a few things mentioned (fluoride) and also I was thinking about whether my tea bags are bleached (apparently some are). I do get organic teas - but I am pretty realistic as to what "organic" may actually mean :) The other thing I found interesting in everyone's posts was the absence of noting the potential positive effects of green tea relating to cancer inhibitors and with pu-erh tea and cholesterol reduction. While there isn't a lot of hard science to back up the claims surrounding these ideas, many folks including myself do believe that tea has beneficial effects for people. I drink tea because I like it. I drink different kinds of tea because I like the variety (for example, I love white tea with my dinner). I do drink pu-erh tea for its health benefits - it is not a good tasting tea so I definitely don't drink it for fun.
Thanks for all the input everyone! Very interesting!
Tea has caffeine. Some green teas in particular have very high caffeine levels. Even decaf teas can have a small amount of caffeine (and a small amount can add up when you are talking 8 cups per day) So yes, IMO, you can drink too much tea.
Considering all those teas contain caffeine, yeah, too much.
I have to agree with Marda about the amount of fluids you are taking in. A coffee cup holds 12 ounces of fluid so 6 to 8 cups is 72 to 96 ounces of water right there with some caffeine for added fun. Then you drink 60 to 80 ounces of water? That is 132 to 176 ounces of water!! That is insane and not healthy because there is such a thing as water poisoning and as Marda said it washes away nutrients.
So too much all around.
I was told 4 cups or regular coffee is the max a healthy person should have. And tea is about half as much caffeine, so 8 cups .. I suppose probably is safe. But that's a lot of liquid. I agree with Marda. And the water on top of that - you must be in the washroom a lot!
I got into a habit when I worked of always having a coffee or tea on the go - it would sit on my desk and I would reheat it over and over.. kind of gross really. We all did that. I am so used to having something hot to sip on, I just switch it out to decaf now.
There is such a thing as too much water - that "8 glasses a day" thing was really just made up, although people repeat it like it's gospel. I'd be concerned that you are putting way too much strain on your kidneys, between the tea and the 60-80 ounces of water. Caffeine dehydrates you, although I realize some of your tea is not caffeinated, in which case it adds to your water total. I'd talk to your dentist about the acid in the tea and its effect on your tooth enamel. And I'd wonder what you are missing out on by filling up with so much liquid and zero nutrition being able to fit itself into your stomach! It's good that you don't drink soda, although plain or flavored seltzer might substitute for some water. Mostly I'd ask myself why you are so dang thirsty or in need of something oral all the time. So I'd discuss with the doctor and see if your labs are up to date.
Common sense tells me this is too much tea based on caffeine content. I wonder if 6-8 cups of tea plus 60-80 oz. of water is washing needed nutrients out of your body. At 40 oz. of water and 60 oz (8 cups) of tea, thats 100 oz (over 12 c) of fluid, I wonder how you have time to drink this much fluid and empty your bladder. Consider that you are also getting fluid from your food. Diabetes causes extreme thirst. Is this why you drink this much?
I suggest you talk with a nutritionist or wholistic medical professional about drinking this much tea and water. If you haven't recently had a physical exam, I'd make an appointment for one.
Have you asked your doctor about this?
My thought was is it decaffeinated tea. If it is then I don't see anything wrong with drinking tea if that is what you really like. Although. Tea plants have a lot of chemicals put on them to make them into tea.Those chemicals are not good for our body. You could do research on that process then decide if you want all those things in your body. I have heard that populations that drink a high amount of tea have a higher rate of stomach cancer but again, I haven't really done much research in to that topic. If I drank as much tea as you do then I'd probably do some serious research to see medical reviews and stuff. Then if that proved to be true I'd stop drinking so much.
I think you are pretty smart. Not many people understand that a serving of juice, for an adult, is 4 ounces per day. So many grab a huge glass and chug it. Then when they go off juice due to how much sugar that is in it they never "get" that they were drinking 4 or 5 servings of it at a time.
One last thing. You do seem to drink a LOT of fluids. Have you been checked for diabetes and stuff? One of the things that signaled the doc to check my ex was how thirsty he was. He drank a lot of water every day and that is a symptom. Just saying you might want to visit with your doc over that.
It's not the caffeine that's a problem - chronic coffee drinkers consume way more than you are.
It's the fluoride.
http://fluoridealert.org/issues/sources/tea/
http://www.livescience.com/28078-skeletal-fluorosis-tea-d...
You might be ok because it really takes a lot of very strong tea to over dose on fluoride.
Still, it might be worth having your doctor test you for fluoride poisoning to see how your tea consumption is affecting you.
I drink a lot of tea too, but try to balance herbal with non-herbal to make sure that I'm not getting too much caffeine. Excess caffeine is really the only downside I can see of too much tea.
Actually, yes. There was a story maybe last summer in the news. I guy drank gallons of tea everyday. He got very sick. He was in the emergency room with kidney failure. You can google the story. It was in Little Rock Arkansas
Oh, it happened in 2014. the patient admitted to drinking 16 eight-ounce glasses of iced tea daily.
Holy cow, that seems like a large intake of fluids!
I drink 6-8 10 oz. cups of tea a day, and usually, that is it. I have never been a water drinker, though I do drink a glass of milk (16 oz.) every night, and before I switched to tea, I drank Coke Zero all day long. I have yearly blood tests and my doctor says my levels have improved significantly (I used to have to take thyroid medication for example, but not anymore). My blood work is consistently fine, I have never have kidney stones or any other issues related to my kidneys. My urine is very pale, actually. My doctor knows I drink tea and has never scolded me for it, and I find the health benefits from drinking tea are very positive. Think of it this way: Asians are the heaviest tea-drinking population, and look how long they live and how youthful and healthy they tend to be, in comparison to us!
Someone mentioned the effect on teeth -- well, despite my heavy tea drinking, my teeth are whiter than at least 80% of people I encounter. My dentist also says that my teeth are much healthier and whiter than most people he says on a bi-yearly or tri-yearly basis (by comparison, I only get my teeth cleaned once a year, my personal preference). People are always on my case about the amount of tea I drink, and claim it has more caffeine than coffee, but that is completely untrue. I mostly drink green tea, by the way. Considering I see those people drinking 5 cups of coffee or more a day, they should worry about their own body before getting on my case. I'd say that if you haven't had kidney issues and your blood work is fine, then you should be fine too!
what Diane B. said is what i was going to say.
I haven't read the other posts, but I do want to let you know that I've been told by someone who had kidney stones that drinking too much tea and eating ice cream can cause kidney stones to form. I don' tknow if it includes milk or other dairy products or not...
