Could cheap tea be making you sick?

Could cheap tea be making you sick?
August 8 2013 at 06:00pm
By FIONA MACRAE

London - A cuppa made with cheap teabags may save pennies at the checkout… but could be bad for your health.

Those who like to pay more for their brew will be pleased to know that 'pure blends', such as Assam and Darjeeling, had lower fluoride levels, as did Oolong tea.

Many supermarket value brands have been found to contain potentially harmful levels of fluoride – a mineral that can severely damage bones in large amounts, a study reveals.And just four cups a day could be enough to generate worrying levels, warn researchers.

Lower quality teas are thought to be a problem because they are made from older leaves that have accumulated higher levels of fluoride from the soil than the rest of the plant. The problem could be made worse by drinking cheap tea on an empty stomach, such as first thing in the morning.

Scientists now want levels of the mineral to be displayed on boxes and packets alongside nutritional information. Researchers at Derby University measured the amount of fluoride in one litre of tea – the equivalent of four cups a day, the average drunk by Britons.

As no daily intake figure for fluoride has yet been set in the UK, they used the four milligramme level recommended in the US as their yardstick....