Drinking Tea Also Has Its Drawbacks: These People Should Not Drink Tea

"I heard drinking tea can fight cancer — can I drink tea? What kind of tea has the best anticancer effect?" Patients often ask me these questions. Some friends also frequently ask whether I drink tea and want to give me tea leaves. Others automatically assume that someone like me must love a life of a cup of clear tea with endless charm. In fact, tea is not for everyone; I myself drink almost no tea at all. All year round I drink plain boiled water. As soon as I drink tea, my stomach aches; in severe cases I get mouth ulcers or diarrhea. My father, on the other hand, gets constipated whenever he drinks tea, so any tea given to me I pass on to others.

This is not to say that tea is unsuitable for everyone. If a person likes drinking tea, has no adverse reactions after drinking it, and has no underlying disease that contraindicates tea, they may well enjoy the deliciousness tea brings. But if a person has an underlying disease that contraindicates tea, they should not drink it. Whether tea has an adjunctive anticancer effect for cancer patients remains undecided, but what is certain is that relying on tea alone to fight cancer is a very risky attempt; for cancer patients with underlying diseases that contraindicate tea, drinking tea does more harm than good.

The theophylline in tea speeds up the heartbeat and excites the person, so patients with neurasthenia, tachycardia, or atherosclerosis should not drink tea. Patients with chronic insomnia should especially avoid tea, particularly in the afternoon or evening; tea worsens insomnia. One should not sacrifice sleep for the uncertain adjunctive anticancer effect of tea; if a person cannot guarantee sufficient sleep, cancer will progress faster.

Tea has a strong diuretic effect, and green tea's diuretic effect is even stronger. Many teas on the market are stir-fried with talc; talc-stir-fried tea feels better to the touch. But talc is diuretic; it can be used briefly as a medicine, but long-term consumption of tea containing talc has carcinogenic side effects. Therefore patients with frequent urination should not drink tea, and neither should diabetics or kidney disease patients. Pregnant women should also avoid tea, because drinking too much tea increases the kidney burden on pregnant women and can induce toxemia.

The caffeine and aromatic substances in tea are both stimulants and irritate the gastrointestinal mucosa. Not only should neurasthenia patients avoid tea, but patients with gastric or duodenal ulcers should as well. Drinking tea worsens symptoms in patients with peptic ulcers and aggravates their condition. People who are Helicobacter pylori-positive are likely to have gastric or duodenal ulcers, so they should drink tea cautiously.

Kidney stone patients should also avoid tea. Oxalic acid in tea combines with calcium in the body to form calcium oxalate, the main component of kidney stones. Long-term tea drinkers should take note: if they experience back pain or hematuria, they should promptly go to the hospital to examine the kidneys and ureters for kidney or ureteral stones.

Constipated patients find their constipation worsens after drinking tea, especially with strong tea. This is mainly due to tea's excitatory and diuretic effects. Tea stimulates the intestines; initially it speeds intestinal peristalsis, but over time it reduces intestinal motility — this is the biphasic effect of biological substances on the human body. In addition, tea is diuretic; after too much urine is expelled, the stool becomes dry and hard to pass, so tea is unsuitable for constipated patients.

Of course, there are patients with special constitutions whose constipation actually improves rather than worsens after drinking tea. This is a minority case and hard to explain. But most constipated patients find tea worsens their condition; people need only observe carefully to see this.

So one should not, upon reading some material about tea's health benefits, automatically drink tea for wellness without thinking. A wellness method unsuitable for oneself is harmful rather than helpful.