Study: Older Women Tea Drinkers Have Better Hip Bone Mineral Density

Simian Practicalist
4 days ago
2 min read

A study by R.Y. Liu and E. Liu titled “Longitudinal Association of Coffee and Tea Consumption with Bone Mineral Density in Older Women: A 10-Year Repeated-Measures Analysis in the Study of Osteoporotic Fractures” published on 23 November 2025 has found that older women tea drinkers had higher total hip bone mineral density (BMD).

The paper is 16 pages with the main text at about 12 pages. The remaining are tables, figures and references.

The study sample included 9,704 women aged 65 years or older. Most women were white and in the US. The study period was 20 years and involved clinical assessments every 2 years with a total of 9 assessments.

Due to insufficient (consistent) data, not all visits were included and the study sample decreased over the years. In the end, assessments 2, 4, 5, and 6 spanning ten years were assessed; this comprised 24,638 observations in total.

In the broadest terms, moderate coffee consumption seems to have no effect on femoral neck BMD and total hip BMD, but heavy consumption (5 or more cups per day) shows a lower BMD for both.

Tea consumption is associated with a higher total hip BMD, with a weak linear relationship.

The analysis included interaction effects and found that “coffee consumption showed a more beneficial effect on femoral neck BMD among participants categorized as consuming less alcohol”.

Also interesting is that “[t]ea consumption was associated with higher femoral neck BMD among women classified as having obesity”.

The mechanisms are also uncertain. Regarding caffeine:

Mechanistically, caffeine acts as a non-specific antagonist of adenosine receptors, which may inhibit bone formation and enhance bone resorption. In vitro studies further suggest that caffeine may downregulate vitamin D receptor expression and impair the osteogenic actions of 1,25(OH)2D3 in osteoblasts. However human experimental studies indicate that in individuals with inadequate calcium intake, caffeine’s impact is minimal, causing only a slight negative calcium balance due to reduced absorption efficiency.

As for tea:

The potential mechanisms underlying tea’s effects may involve catechins, particularly epigallocatechin (EGC), which can promote osteoblast activity and inhibit osteoclast differentiation. Animal studies also suggest that EGC may prevent both bone and muscle loss.

Admittedly, the literature is inconsistent for both coffee and tea but this study is limited to white women when genetics can potentially be a big factor. Nonetheless, this study does have the benefit of having a large sample across a 10-year period.