Nearly 11K Adults Revealed A Surprising Link Between This Drink & Aging

There's something comforting about having a cup of tea within reach, whether it's part of your morning routine or your afternoon pick-me-up.

But tea may have more going for it than its cozy ritual. It contains natural plant compounds that researchers are exploring for their potential role in healthy aging. One in particular, called EGCG, has caught their attention for its effects on cells.

Researchers looked at health and diet information from 10,977 U.S. adults who took part in the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES). They wanted to find out whether people who consumed more EGCG also showed signs of healthier biological aging.

So, what exactly is EGCG?

Short for epigallocatechin gallate, it's a natural plant compound found in tea, especially green tea. It's part of a group of compounds called catechins, which have attracted scientific interest because of their potential to protect cells from damage.

Compared with people who consumed no EGCG, those who got some from their diets had lower biological aging scores, a lower risk of dying during the study's follow-up period, and a longer estimated remaining lifespan. Researchers followed participants for an average of about eight years.

Interestingly, people in both the lower- and higher-intake groups saw similar associations. So, getting more EGCG wasn't necessarily linked to greater benefits.

And where were people getting this compound? Almost entirely from tea. Tea-based foods and drinks accounted for 99.55% of participants' EGCG intake, with black tea, green tea, and tea that wasn't specified by type making up the main sources.

The researchers also wanted to understand why EGCG might be connected to healthier aging, so they ran additional experiments using roundworms and mouse liver cells.

In the roundworms, EGCG helped the animals live longer while also keeping them moving and eating normally for longer. When researchers looked closer, they found that the compound appeared to activate tiny structures inside cells called peroxisomes.

Think of peroxisomes as part of a cell's cleanup crew.

They help break down fats and deal with waste, but their activity can decline as we age. In the experiments, EGCG appeared to increase both their number and how well they worked. When researchers blocked the genes involved in this process, the worms no longer experienced the same benefits.

The team saw something similar in mouse liver cells that had been artificially aged. EGCG reduced signs of cellular aging, again seemingly by activating peroxisomes.

Before you start filling your cupboard with every tea variety you can find, it's worth understanding the limits of this research.

The human study was observational, meaning researchers looked for connections between people's existing diets and health rather than asking them to drink specific amounts of tea.

It can't prove that EGCG itself caused the healthier aging outcomes, though we've seen in other research that tea comes with a host of health benefits for optimal aging.

Dietary information also came from two 24-hour food recalls, which may not capture what someone typically eats and drinks over time. Plus, the researchers studied EGCG from food and beverages, not supplements.

There's no evidence from this study that taking an EGCG pill would offer the same benefits.