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Green tea triggering UC?

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Posted 12/23/2012 12:24 AM (GMT 0)
I noticed on the SCD site that green tea is illegal and I went looking for the reason why. I've drank ~10 cups of green tea per day for years and was not excited about giving it up but I found this study:

www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/2051629

Study said...
Frequent intake of rice (4 or more bowls a day), bread (3 or more times a week), and green tea (7 or more cups a day) significantly increased the relative risk of ulcerative colitis.

This is quite shocking to me, to think that I may have caused this disease by drinking a so-called health drink. And I wonder if other sufferers were prolific tea drinkers? This is something I would have never suspected to cause UC. I guess everything's poison :P
Posted 12/23/2012 12:40 AM (GMT 0)
it is hard to know. there were only 50 patients, and result could be specific to Japanese risk factors.

But, two things.

One, the UC patients were likely pre-clinical for some time, and may have been drinking the tea for upset stomach for years before diagnosis. The point being that this relative risk is only an association, and is only suggestive (not conclusive) for causality.

Two, it is a bit odd that they did not find/support linear relationships. They did not say that for each cup of tea the RR went up by xxx. They drew a line at seven, possibly with just a few 7+ and then reported RR for being over the line. This is a much weaker method/finding.

That said, green tea is better than black tea, but both tannins and caffine in teas stumulate acid production. Green tea has more antioxidants to balance out cost/benefit - but it is not without cost or healthy in itself. Likely a few cups gives antioxidant benefit and too many cups makes too much acid.

But, my opinion is that for most people it would take more than tea to cause colitis. Maybe shifted your odds a bit, but not likely the cause in and of itself. Just my speculation though.
Posted 12/23/2012 12:54 AM (GMT 0)
That is totally weird! I drink green tea on occasion, but always decaf. I'm an herbal tea drinker though.

I agree with DB though. I don't think green tea was enough to cause your UC.
Posted 12/23/2012 1:03 AM (GMT 0)
Thanks for the perspective DB. This is what the SCD site says:

SCD Site said...
However, after looking carefully at the study in question, she reversed her decision [of banning green tea] and writes: I feel rather certain that green tea is OK even tho it kept company with rice and bread [in the study]. But notice, "7 or more cups per day." I would allow green tea and limit it to 2 cups per day. You realize that I don't know, don't you? I have no hesitation when it comes to certain carbohydrates but these other things stump me so I try to be logical.

Posted 12/23/2012 1:11 AM (GMT 0)
I drank a lot of green tea too around the time I was diagnosed. I still do and I am in remission. I don't think it's related for me but it's an interesting idea.
Posted 12/23/2012 1:25 AM (GMT 0)
I can see bread and rice, but green tea? Hmm
Posted 12/23/2012 2:09 AM (GMT 0)
Personally I think anything can be a trigger, including healthy foods. Many times it is multiple triggers that add up. Some people just assume that healthy foods are good for UC and unhealthy foods are bad. I really don't believe that is true 100% of the time.
Posted 12/23/2012 11:13 AM (GMT 0)
I would do more research on any studies making claims about food and drink. Generally, there are always opposing views and as ever with UC, diet is personal to each sufferer.

The one thing I'd say is eat or drink specific foods in moderation - 10 cups of green tea per day will effect your gut more than 5 a day. Keeping things balanced appears to be the name of the game with UC although it's not easy with a limited diet.
Posted 12/23/2012 11:19 AM (GMT 0)
To clarify, green tea is LEGAL on SCD but advice is to limit to 2 cups per day. I usually drink multiple infusions so it gets more dilute with each cup. Also, the study quoted is associative so it should be treated only as the basis for more studies.
Posted 12/23/2012 12:51 PM (GMT 0)
garylou said:Personally I think anything can be a trigger, including healthy foods. Many times it is multiple triggers that add up. Some people just assume that healthy foods are good for UC and unhealthy foods are bad. I really don't believe that is true 100% of the time.

I agree. Until I got my symptoms controlled many "healthy" foods/drinks set my gut off including decaf green tea, so it's not just the caffeine. I tried many types of herbal teas and they caused upset too. Apparently my gut didn't get the memo that this stuff is healthy haha.

GI's call this IBS not UC but having lived through it I say it's all one and the same thing--a hurt colon letting us know it's condition and telling us to treat it gently...or else.
Posted 12/23/2012 1:01 PM (GMT 0)
My wife drinks about 6 cups of black tea a day with lemon,this is since she was about,15 years old. She is now in her late sixties,he mother died of colon cancer at 50. Wife was scoped two years ago and her colon is pristine, go figure.  Doc was amazed,said see you in 10 years.
Coincidence,perhaps.
Old Mike
Posted 12/23/2012 2:44 PM (GMT 0)
Frequent intake of rice (4 or more bowls a day), bread (3 or more times a week), and green tea (7 or more cups a day) significantly increased the relative risk of ulcerative colitis.

As far as I am concerned that study is meaningless. Bread eaten 3 or more times a week can increase UC symptoms because of the gluten alone. Green tea and rice should have been studied alone without being confused with gluten foods that can skew the results.
Posted 12/23/2012 4:06 PM (GMT 0)
a thing does not have to be 100% true or 100% meaningless.

you are too quick to say "meaningless" when "complicated" is the right word.

3 breads is not a lot for US, maybe for Japan. It is likely a risk factor because the gut microbes co-evolving with Japanese (largely wheat free) would not be there to help digest gluten. But, in US they are present, and unless gut microbes are destroyed, generally no problem.

also relative risk regressions yield the unique contribution of each predictor, so the point about studying those things alone is moot.

this was not an experiment with people assigned to diets. this was find about all the different diet things in each group, and see what things are higher/lower in the UC group. and then report RR of each when controlling for the others.

it gets technical, but your main concern is just not a problem, and the study is not meaningless, it just does not have as much import as may first sound.

Post Edited (DBwithUC) : 12/24/2012 3:08:24 PM (GMT-7)

Posted 12/24/2012 2:24 AM (GMT 0)
I actually started drinking green tea after getting UC because I heard it's really good for you :/ I can't say I can see a big difference in my health. I don't notice anything negative nor positive since I've started. However, I can say that I did eat quite a lot of rice and bread prior to getting UC.
Posted 12/24/2012 12:59 PM (GMT 0)
I haven't started drinking tea before my diagnosis but I ate bread and rice. I don't think green tea is the culprit.

And many mentioned it already. Green and black tea are SCD legal just dilute it and don't have more than two cups per day. The same goes for coffee.
Posted 12/24/2012 2:18 PM (GMT 0)
I drink 6+ cups a day of green tea and have no problem at all with it. I stay away from coffee.
Posted 12/24/2012 10:33 PM (GMT 0)
this finding is not about green tea = UC, or even 7 cups of green tea = UC.

it just means significantly more people in the UC group drank 7+ then the non-UC group.

so, for example, 8 people in the non-UC group might have drank 7+ cups of green tea with no problem (they are the non-UC group) and there might have been 19 people in the UC group. I have not worked it out, but I think 19:8 would be a significant relative risk.

So it has nothing to do with what is "the" culprit, and it does not matter if someone here drinks 7+ cups w/o problem. Undoubtedly a number of people in the study drank 7+ cups w/o a problem. The only finding is that significantly more people in the UC group drank 7+ cups. .... and I still say they may have been drinking it because of early symptoms.

so it is what it is. but a lot of responses are misunderstanding the report.
Posted 12/28/2012 4:23 AM (GMT 0)

BabeintheWoods said...
Frequent intake of rice (4 or more bowls a day), bread (3 or more times a week), and green tea (7 or more cups a day) significantly increased the relative risk of ulcerative colitis.

As far as I am concerned that study is meaningless. Bread eaten 3 or more times a week can increase UC symptoms because of the gluten alone. Green tea and rice should have been studied alone without being confused with gluten foods that can skew the results.

I was thinking the same thing, what a ridiculous study to include two freakin' grains and then a tea?
Posted 1/14/2013 5:23 PM (GMT 0)
And if you drink too much water you can deplete your salt levels and die..

Too much of anything is not good...

My grandma is 94 lives alone and always said to me " I eat things in moderation" but ate everything just about. She even smoked for a few years in her life. I am going to see her this weekend at her house..She takes only a sleep med..Ambien I beleive.

I drink camomile tea for the relaxing effect it has. It also has no caffein which I dont think is good for you.

Steve

Post Edited (twiggs) : 1/18/2013 11:22:49 AM (GMT-7)

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