Habitual tea consumption is associated with a lower prevalence of kidney stone disease in postmenopausal women

Background: Menopause is associated with an increased risk of kidney stone disease (KSD). However, for postmenopausal women, how to avoid KSD has rarely been studied. The aim of this study was to explore whether drinking tea is associated with a reduction in the prevalence of KSD in postmenopausal women.

Methods: We collected 11,484 postmenopausal women from the Taiwan Biobank, and used questionnaires to obtain information on tea drinking, KSD, and comorbidities. The participants were divided into two groups according to habitual tea consumption: tea-drinking and non-tea-drinking groups. The association between habitual tea consumption and KSD was examined by logistic regression analysis.

Results: There were 2,035 postmenopausal women in the tea-drinking group and 9,449 postmenopausal women in the non-tea-drinking group. The mean age of all participants was 61 years. Compared to the non-tea-drinking group, the tea-drinking group had a significantly lower prevalence of KSD (7% vs. 5%). The odds ratio (OR) of KSD was lower in those who habitually drank tea than in those who did not (OR = 0.78; 95% confidence interval [CI] [0.63 to 0.96]) after adjusting for confounders. Moreover, postmenopausal women with a daily intake of two cups of tea or more had a 30% reduced risk of KSD compared to those who did not habitually drink tea (OR = 0.71, 95% CI [0.56 to 0.90]).

Conclusions: Our results suggest that habitual tea drinking may be associated with a reduction in the prevalence of KSD in postmenopausal women. Further studies are warranted to investigate the protective effect of tea on the development of KSD.