The association between hot tea and glaucoma

Glaucoma is an eye condition potentially damaging the eyesight. People with glaucoma lose the field of vision gradually to result in the blindness finally. The cause of glaucoma is still unclear.

A recent study suggests that hot tea drinking might prevent you from glaucoma. According to this article below, regular consumption of hot tea was associated with lowered risk of glaucoma by 74%.

The Guardian: Could drinking tea really be linked to a lower risk of glaucoma?

As some researchers mentioned in the article above, however, this result is quite doubtful. I am afraid this hypothesis is not trustworthy regardless of the content of the original research report.

First of all, the definition of hot tea is vague. Different from coffee, many types of beverage are called "tea," such as green tea, jasmine tea, and even avocado seed tea. Each ingredient of tea is far different from each other. Some tea shares caffeine. But this study has failed to detect the association between caffeine consumption and the prevalence of glaucoma.

Second, the false positive association is possible. There are many other variables among participants potentially influencing the onset of glaucoma than tea consumption. It is possible that the researchers erroneously detected the association. I believe the authors made a statistical analysis of proper method. Nonetheless, type 1 error cannot avoid entirely.

In recent years, the effect of caffeine on the human health is in the process of clarification. But there is still no fixed conclusion. The outcome of consuming a massive amount of tea is in the mist. I recommend you taking balanced diet regularly.