Drinking four to five cups of tea a day could save your life. It lowers blood pressure and reduces the risk of a heart attack or stroke, claims new research published in the Journal of Nutrition & Food Sciences.

Authors of the new study – funded by the Tea Advisory Panel – found regular consumption of black or green tea not only reduces blood pressure, it also lowers cholesterol, improves cardiovascular function and damps down inflammation, which can be a contributing factor in heart disease and other serious health problems. Cardiovascular disease kills 150,000 people a year in the UK and accounts for 26 per cent of all deaths.

“The evidence is overwhelming, ” said Dr Emma Derbyshire, a public nutritionist and study co-author. “Drinking tea every day helps protect against heart disease and stroke. Most of these benefits seem to flow from the high levels of polyphenols in both black and green tea, but the nation’s favourite brew also contains other protective and health-enhancing compounds including theaflavins, thearubigins and tannins.”