Regional differences in adults' tea drinking pattern: findings from China Kadoorie Biobank study in 10 areas in China

Abstract

To describe the gender and regional differences in adults' tea drinking pattern found in China Kadoorie Biobank (CKB) survey, involving half million adults, in 10 areas in China. The baseline survey of CKB was conducted in 5 urban areas and 5 rural areas in China during 2004-2008. The information on tea drinking of 512 891 adults aged 30-79 years was collected and analyzed. The overall prevalence of regular tea drinking (i.e., weekly) was 50.7% in males and 21.3% in females. Among 10 areas, Hunan reported the highest regular tea drinking prevalence (74.3% in males, 76.6% in females), while Henan reported the lowest regular tea drinking prevalence (5.5% in males, 1.0% in females). Most regular tea drinkers consumed green tea except those from Zhejiang and Haikou. Hunan reported the highest tea consumption per time (3.8 g in males, 3.1 g in females), per day (6.2 g in males, 4.1 g in females) and per week (38.4 g in males, 25.0 g in females). The adults' tea drinking pattern i.e. frequency, type, amount of tea and preferred concentration of tea water, varied greatly among the 10 regions covered by CKB study.