How much green tea is too much?

by Bethany Sanders (Subscribe to Bethany Sanders's posts)
May 7th 2007 10:00AM

Categories: Vitamins and Supplements, Diet & Weight Loss, Reviews & Products, Alternative & Green Health, Nutrition & Supplements

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Drink green tea! You hear it everywhere. Green tea has been linked to heart health and cancer prevention, and recently even been touted as a possible way to reduce rheumatoid arthritis pain.

But as with nearly everything, too much of a good thing is not a good thing. A review of recent research found that when people ingest too much green tea -- especially in supplement form -- they run the risk of developing liver or kidney damage. Though the polyphenols in tea are beneficial in moderate doses, they can be toxic at high levels. Green tea supplements can contain 50 times more polyphenols than a single cup of green tea.

Experts say that even 10 cups of green tea a day is safe, but that if you're taking supplements you may want to watch your dose because it's easy to go overboard.

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Comments (45)

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 3)

Hicks 5-08-2007 @ 5:51AM

i drink it everyday but i only stick to 4-5 cups of www.teacuppa.com gunpowder green tea.

Crabby McSlacker 5-08-2007 @ 9:55AM

Sad but true, it really seems like when you try to get something nutrious in supplement form, it never works out as well as consuming the real thing. (If I could take broccoli in a capsule, I'd be so all over that).

I've got a post about recent tea research too, at http://crankyfitness.blogspot.com/, but it's much more rambly and disorganized than Bethany's well written report.

Dr. Snool 5-11-2007 @ 2:33PM

So, green tea is good for you, even up to 10 cups per day! I wonder who would drink more than 10 cups of tea per day. They'd spend more of their time in the bathroom peeing it back out than they could drinking the tea. Sadly the problem is the American cultural belief that more is better, i.e. if some green tea is good for you more must be even better. We see this everywhere. The key to good nutrition is moderation. Supplements are overused in too high doses. Sticking to natural foods will solve the problem.

lee ann 5-13-2007 @ 4:41PM

Too much green tea (whatever that may be) can be dangerous for people on Coumadin.

lynn 5-11-2007 @ 2:49PM

Sounds like propaganda to me. Why is it that there is never a tag line saying "How much Coca-Cola is too much? " or "How much Starbucks...?" etc. It seems like any supplement that has been found to have considerable benefits is often questioned or labeled dangerous. Yet, the chemicals that we consume daily as "food" is o.k.

lkarizma21102 5-11-2007 @ 3:02PM

It seems like everything we eat or drink causes something.So I really would'nt worry to much about it.What ever we can mention to stop consumers from buying something we normally we say it to stress out others.

Dee Dee 5-11-2007 @ 3:20PM

I drink Lipton Green tea with citrus/ diet. I drink 4 or 5 20 oz bottles a day. Do you think that's too much? It's part of my diet, and I've lost 45 pounds since Jan. 07. I gave up Diet Coke so i sub with Lipton green tea/diet.

LES 5-11-2007 @ 3:38PM

And.........if you drink too much water you'll drown. Some of these "studies" are getting ridiculous and our tax dollars are probably paying for the study grants. Sheesh.....enough already!

Zombie 5-11-2007 @ 3:27PM

Remember what they say: "Such-and-such is good for you!!" Yeah, this week. Next week they'll find something wrong with it and tell you it's bad for you. Case in point...

martin 5-11-2007 @ 3:45PM

just wondering is the beverage under the name of arizona green tea (which is sold in every convenience store here in texas) good or bad for you?

Vivi 5-11-2007 @ 3:48PM

Green tea? What's that?

nechamah 5-11-2007 @ 3:50PM

Recovering from breast cancer, I read that green tea stopped tumour growth and so I started having about 5 cups of green tea a day. I was soon short of breath in ways i never had been. Since the only difference was the green tea, I stopped it and the shortness of breath problem stopped. I put a little green tea back a little at a time and find that 2 cups a day does not cause problems. I hope it has some benefit at such small amounts. People should also be aware and wary of the push for soy, based on the fact that women from Japan and Okinowa have low incidence of breast cancer and they consume a lot of soy. WHat is not addressed is that not all women are Japanese, Okinawan, or even Asian, and different genetics may be counteridicative. My breast cancer was hormone receptor positive feeding off of estrogen, and all lthe soy I was consuming under the impression it would prevent cancer actually probably caused the overload because soy has naturally occurring estrogen!!!

lori 5-11-2007 @ 3:56PM

Green Tea is wonderful & it's natural, we should all head that way, BUT as said over & over again...'Everything in moderation." If we'd follow that rule on everything we'd be good to go!

Lori A 5-11-2007 @ 3:59PM

Also, be wary of green tea WITH caffeine!! Caffeine is a stimulant and can cause many unpleasant side-effects like dizziness, paranoia, nervousness, shortness of breath and depression! drink decaff!!

Madam Potts 5-11-2007 @ 4:05PM

All this shows is that green tea is NOT dangerous. What is dangerous is the pharmaceutical bastardization of a natural product. supplements are NOT the same as the actual tea, and the drub companies want everyone to be scared of herbs, when what people need to realize is that the herbs themselves are not as toxic as what companies who rig a related product in order to profit from it!

Lori A 5-11-2007 @ 4:02PM

Yes!! Is SO true that these so-called 'researchers' that spend our tax-dollars contradict themselves constantly!! One week something is good for you, the next week there are warnings against it!!!! GET IT RIGHT THE FIRST TIME!!!

Robert 5-11-2007 @ 4:13PM

I'm currently drinking 3 cups of Brassica Green Tea with 500 mgs. to 75% polyphenols capsules daily as part of an adjuvant therapy regimen for bladder/prostate cancer. Is this considered a toxic level? I've been on this therapy since February and am to continue through the summer. Any thoughts?