The Daily Mail: Habit of drinking tea protects the British against dysentery in 18th century

In England, the prevalence of drinking tea in the 1700s led to a decrease in the incidence of infections, researchers told The Daily Mail.

The population density increased and cities developed during the Industrial Revolution in England.

As the study of the data of more than 400 parishes showed, that is why the number of deaths has increased. But the popularity of tea led to the fact that more people began to survive.

Parishes with the poorest quality water benefited more from the spread of tea. This means that this drink reduced the incidence of dysentery, a serious disease of the gastrointestinal tract that can be caused by various microorganisms. Perhaps people started killing microbes in boiling water.

The researchers emphasized that in the 18th century, people still did not know about the causative agents of infections in water. They changed their behavior not because of some external influence, but because they wanted to drink tea, the experts explained. This observation can simplify the inclusion of various means of combating diseases in the modern world.

"It is a great example of how a population adopted a healthy behaviour without someone trying to change culture or customs from the outside, but because they wanted to adopt the practice from within. It's something we can look at and possibly try to emulate when considering future interventions aimed at improving health more generally, including with respect to water," the experts noted.

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