Tea can absorb lead, other harmful metals, Northwestern University scientists find
chicago.suntimes.com
3 min read
fairly difficult
The Evanston researchers discovered brewed black, green and other tea leaves can remove dangerous contaminants as the leaves act like a sponge.
Numerous studies have shown tea's many health benefits. Here's another: Brewed tea can filter and remove harmful heavy metals, including lead, Northwestern University researchers in Evanston recently discovered. Brewing black, green, white or oolong tea can trap the metals as the tea leaves act like a sponge. "We all wondered if in addition to releasing wonderful flavor and other contents from the tea leaves, if tea leaves and bags encasing the leaves would in turn capture dissolved toxins," says Vinayak Dravid, Northwestern professor of materials science and engineering and senior author of the study. While the findings may be comforting to U.S. tea drinkers, it's particularly important to those people living around the world exposed to highly contaminated water. Dravid says his research group and a startup company he co-founded called Coral Innovations have already been developing a…