THE DANGERS OF TEADRINKING.

King Country Chronicle, Volume VIII, Issue 668, 13 May 1914, Page 3

THE DANGERS OF TEADRINKING.

One of the disadvantages of teadrinking is that it is an insidious habit which grows upon one. The woman who takes tea at seven, tea at breakfast, tea at mid-day, at bedtime, and again in the evening is not unknown, and the anaemic maidservant, who openly or surreptitiously imbibes tea at brief intervals during the twenty-four hours, is typical of what the tea habit may .induce. Indeed, everyone who knows the working classes can speak of the harm done to health and vitality by having a teapot stewing on the hoi) all day. The tea and bread-and-but-ter meal is bad because it provides very little nourishment and leads to digestive disorder. When tea is allowed to stand, or "'stew," a substance called tannin is formed, and this is a very strong astringent, which has an irritating effect upon the lining, membrane of the stomach.

Some people, however, go to the other extreme, and imagine that they are drinking tea when they allow the leaves to lie in contact with boiling water for a quarter of a minute. The fact is that they simply swallow the washings of the tea leaves, as time has not been given for a proper infusion. Some doctors aivocate allowing the tea to be infused for fifteen minutes. Perhaps, five or six minutes is a safer estimate to give. Tea, moreover, ought to be to hot that it can only be sipped slowly. The hostess who mates her tea in a cold silver teapot, and pours it into shallow cups, in which it gets cold in half a minute, has a great deal to learn. A cup of tea twice a day will hurt no'jody. Indigestion, anaemia, and nerve exhaustion can all be avoided if such moderation is faithfully observed. But tea-drinking in excess is fatal to health and looks alike.