Preventing the Flu By Gargling Tea

While I was reading up on the H1N1 virus information, I came across an interesting study that measured how tea could prevent influenza. It seems you don’t even have to drink the tea, you can just gargle it. The study Gargling with tea catechin extracts for the prevention of influenza infection in elderly nursing home residents, which came out in 2006, took 124 elderly residents and divided them into two groups.

Tea Catechin Group – Gargled 3 times a day with a solution that contained tea catechin extract.
Control Group – Gargled 3 times a day with a solution that had no tea catechin extract.
The study took place over 3 months.
Both groups were vaccinated with an influenza vaccine.

What was the result?

The Tea Catechin Group had a 1.3% infection rate.
The Control Group had a 10.0% infection rate.

That is a reduction in the infection rate of 87%. I’m guessing this is encouraging news for those people sensitive to caffeine that wish to get health benefits from tea catechins. Just gargle away! According to the Wikipedia page on Catechins, other health benefits include:

Reduced risk of stroke, heart failure, cancer, and diabetes.
Skin protection from UV radiation-induced damage and tumor formation.
Antibiotic properties.

Tea Tasting – White Peony

How bad could flu season get this year? One measure is to look at places in the Southern Hemisphere that are going through winter right now. From The Human Condition blog on Newsweek:

In Argentina, 20 to 25 percent of the population has been attacked by the flu over a three-week period. That could easily occur in the United States, where pandemics typically attack between 25 percent and 40 percent of the population.

I’m making some tea right now. Not that I fear H1N1. Any flu is to be avoided. No gargling for me though. Tea is too tasty not to consume as intended.

2018 UPDATE: Twitter user @_masaki_says found two follow up studies on gargling with tea to prevent the flu.

Interesting study. Thank you. Seems the same group of Japanese researchers have continued with this. Two more more recent papers from them:https://t.co/2ZPtRI20Pn
"was not significantly more efficacious"https://t.co/xQx18VxEFQ
"may slightly reduce"
— Masaki 👣👣 (@_masaki_says) June 22, 2018

Sources

Gargling with tea catechin extracts for the prevention of influenza infection in elderly nursing home residents – Medical study abstract.

Catechin Wikipedia page – Health benefits listed.

You (Probably) Won’t Die From Swine Flu: Putting H1N1 in Perspective – Human Condition blog post.

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Michael Allen Smith

Michael Allen Smith is both a coffee fanatic and a web developer. In April 1999, he combined these two interests and started the coffee website INeedCoffee.com. His personal blog, which covers a wide range of topics, is Critical MAS.