How Tea Consumption Interacts with Genetics to Affect Cardiovascular Biomarkers in Older Adults? Findings from the...

Cardiovascular disease (CVD) has become the leading cause of mortality and disability worldwide. Tea is one of the most common consumed beverages worldwide. Studies have demonstrated that tea consumption has an impact on cardiovascular diseases. This study aims to examine the association between tea consumption and CVD biomarkers and investigate the potential effect of genetic variants on the relationship between tea consumption and CVD biomarkers in older adults.

This prospective cohort study using four waves (2008, 2011, 2014, and 2018) of data from the Chinese Longitudinal Healthy Longevity Survey (CLHLS) to analyze the interactive effect of tea consumption and genetics on CVD biomarkers. The study sample consisted of older adults aged 65-105 from 8 longevity counties across China. The frequency and type of tea consumption and various covariates were investigated using questionnaires, seven blood biomarkers including Plasma glucose (PG),Total cholesterol(TC),Triglyceride(TG),High-sensitive C-reactive protein, (hs-CRP),High-density lipoprotein cholesterol(HDLC),Low-density lipoprotein cholesterol(LDLC) and Hemoglobin were selected from blood biochemical test, genetics were measured using the polygenic risk score(PRS) calculated by PLINK1. Generalized estimation equations (GEE) with a identity link function were adopted to estimate the effect of tea consumption and PRS on CVD biomarkers from both cross-sectional and longitudinal perspective.

The results showed that the consumption of tea was associated with higher levels of TC, TG, and LDLC levels, lower levels of HDLC, and age-specific effects on hs-CRP levels, and drinking tea increased TG and LDLC levels of higher PRS older adults, while lowering their HDLC and hs-CRP levels.

The current study found that tea consumption had both beneficial and unfavorable effects on cardiovascular biomarkers in the older population. Specifically, it is protective against inflammatory related biomarkers and harmful for lipid metabolism related biomarkers, and these effects were all modified by genetic variants affecting lipid and inflammation metabolism.