Risks Posed by Extreme Consumption of Matcha
Photo Credit: Anna Pustynnikova / Shutterstock.com
By Savonnah Wong
Matcha and green tea are often advertised as health beverages with many benefits including the following: weight loss, fighting cancer, protecting the liver, eliminating fat from the body, etc. But how much of this information is accurate?
Few consumers are aware of the health risks posed by aluminum, fluoride, fluoroacetate, and many other contents in tea. For example, a simple switch between drinking matcha or green tea results in a drastic change in fluoride intake. Because green tea is usually imbibed in the form of brewed tea leaves in a teabag and matcha consists of ground tea leaves in a powdered form, it is far less concentrated than matcha. Thus, the amount of fluoride in matcha is about triple the amount of fluoride in brewed tea. Given the rise in the consumption of black tea, green tea, and matcha, it is important to be conscious of the possible negatives that come from overconsumption, especially considering the fluoride concentration in these drinks.
“There are two types of fluorosis,” explained Katherine Papastephanou, anatomy and physiology teacher at The Athenian School. “Dental fluorosis, which affects the teeth, and then skeletal fluorosis which affects the bones. In both cases, it is caused by higher levels of fluoride, and if they are just a little bit higher, it again causes visual differences on the teeth, and then if they get higher and higher, then it can cause more damage.”
If a person consumes more than the adequate intake recommended by age, “which is typically between 0.4 to about 0.7 mg per day” they can suffer from various illnesses such as fluorosis or endemic fluorosis, osteofluorosis, Papastephanou noted.
Black tea and green tea leaves have been reported to have the highest fluoride concentration of any vegetation. Fluoride is a Schedule 6 Poison according to the Australian Government’s Department of Health and can be lethal if consumed at more than 5 milligrams per kilogram of body weight.
However, there are some possible pros to fluoride if consumed in moderation.
“Fluoride works to reduce the prevalence and severity of dental caries that require restorative dental care, in pre-eruptive, posteruptive, systemic, and topical situations,” explained Dr. Howard Pollick, a full-time clinical professor in the Department of Preventive and Restorative Dental Sciences of the School of Dentistry at the University of California San Francisco.
“Most people in the U.S. show no signs of fluorosis. There are varying degrees of dental (enamel) fluorosis, ranging from none (most persons in the U.S.) to very mild, mild, moderate and severe. Dental fluorosis occurs from the exposure of high levels of fluoride during tooth development and is apparent by the way teeth look when they come into the mouth [...] Swallowing too much fluoride toothpaste by young children on a regular basis may also contribute to lesser forms of dental fluorosis, so parents/guardians are recommended to supervise their young children when toothbrushing and apply small amounts of toothpaste,” added Pollick.
“Fluoride is present in nearly all foods and beverages to a varying extent. Usually, most fluoride is consumed in water depending on the fluoride concentration of the drinking water,” says Pollick.
In green tea, the tea leaves absorb fluoride present in the soil. As matcha is ground-up tea leaves, the fluoride level in a serving of matcha is much higher than that of the same serving of green tea.
“The National Fluoride Database shows the different concentrations of fluoride in different teas, which varies from 0.13 ppm(mg/L) (herbal, chamomile, brewed tea) to about 900 ppm (instant, powder, unsweetened unbrewed tea),” noted Pollick. However, the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) recommends about 0.7 ppm of fluoride daily.
It is also important to keep in mind that water facilities fluoridate our drinking water “to adjust the already existing fluoride level to 0.7 mg/L or parts per million, which is the current recommendation by the US Public Health Service for prevention of tooth decay on a community-wide basis.” Thus, it is very easy to consume excessive amounts of fluoride per day since “fluoride is a naturally occurring ion of the element fluorine that is ubiquitous and fluoride is present in nearly all foods and beverages to a varying extent. [And] usually, most fluoride is consumed in water depending on the fluoride concentration of the drinking water,” stated Pollick.
For daily tea consumers, the key is to “drink in moderation and not to excess,” advised Pollick, for “there have been reports of individuals who have consumed excessive amounts of tea over many years who developed skeletal fluorosis. One person drank 10 to 16 cups of black tea daily, with an estimated fluoride intake of 13 mg/day; another admitted to consuming excessive amounts of iced tea (30 to 40 eight-ounce glasses of tea/day) for about 30 years, with an estimated daily fluoride intake of 14 mg/day.”
Because tea contains high levels of fluoride, it’s best to drink brewed black or green tea and to avoid tea powder altogether. Although five cups of tea per day would still be within the bounds of the concentration of daily fluoride intake, it is important to consider these facts the next time you brew a cup of tea.
