GOOD news for tea drinkers - your daily cuppa could lower your risk of glaucoma.
A study in the US has found drinking hot tea could be linked to a lower risk of having the serious eye condition which can lead to blindness.
While researchers say there's no evidence that your brew will protect you from the condition completely, they do think the antioxidants and natural anti-inflammatories found in tea may play a role in reducing a person's chance of developing it.
Glaucoma is caused by the pressure of fluids inside the eye damaging the optic nerve and can lead to blindness if left undetected. It is thought to affect around 57.5million people worldwide.
The researchers were looking into the role caffeine plays on pressure inside the eye, when they discovered the link between caffeinated hot tea and glaucoma risk.
Published in the British Journal of Opthamology, the US study looked at the results of eye examinations from 1678 participants aged 40 and over, as well as analysing data from around 10,000 people in a 2005-2006 nationwide health and nutrition survey.
The team looked at participants' responses to questions about how often they drank coffee, hot tea, soft drinks or iced tea in that year, and if they had caffeine in them.
A total of 84 participants had glaucoma. The study found those who drank more than six cups of hot tea a week were less likely to have the condition even when other factors such as age, body mass index, smoking and diabetes were taken into consideration.
It found overall hot tea drinkers were 74 per cent less likely to develop glaucoma.
No link was found for coffee (caffeinated or decaffeinated), decaffeinated tea, iced tea or soft drinks.
Report co-author Anne Coleman from the University of California in Los Angeles said more studies still need to be done, as the results can't show cause and effect and the fact that there was a lack of data on the type of tea drunk and very few participants had glaucoma.
"Tea drinkers should feel comfortable about drinking tea, but should realise that the results are preliminary and drinking tea may not prevent glaucoma," she said.
