Got a newsletter from my doctor’s office yesterday, and the word is–tada!–tea drinkers are in luck! Here’s why:

1. Drinking tea regularly can lower your blood pressure by 2 points, reducing your risk of stroke by 8%.
2. Drinking just 3 cups of tea a day (easily done by me each morning) can slash the risk of hip fracture by THIRTY percent, and it gets even better!
3. Black tea contains chemicals called flavonoids which help prevent brittle bones.
4. Flavonoids are linked with lower cancer and heart disease risks.
5. Every cup of black tea lowers the risk of hip fracture by 9%, thus three cups a day can cut that risk by a third!

Now if that doesn’t send you running for the Earl Grey (or Ceylon, or Assam, or any other of many, many perfectly delicious black teas), I don’t know why not. Frankly, since both my mother and my grandmother fell and broke their hips in their later years, the reduced risk of osteoporosis is enough to make me glad I’ve been a confirmed tea drinker all my adult life.

Okay, you guys have been alerted to this wonderful news. Now I’m going to go make my second cup of tea for the morning, perhaps a cup of Summer Rose. A perfect black tea with just a hint of rose petals. Sublime.

(Of course, for those of you who prefer a bit of company whilst testing out this whole “drinking tea is good for your health” thing, I happen to know where a really swell tea party is going to be happening this coming Saturday. Just sayin’ . . . )

(Oh, yeah. The newsletter also mentioned something about beet juice. I’ll let you know if I ever work my way up to that one!)