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I've heard that news before, but I seem to remembering hearing that for black teas, adding milk can help keep the tannin (?) from upsetting stomachs. I further remember hearing (from where, I don’t know) that is why the British began using dairy, as they were not as accustomed to the taste and content from the teas they were importing.

I have no proof to offer, only a vague memory of something I read.

Whatever the scientific basis may be, adding milk to tea definitely helped my stomach. After years of black tea with sugar only, my ol' belly couldn't take it anymore.

Other findings to note: white tea is richer (significantly richer) in antioxidants than green tea. Also, adding lemon juice or lime juice to tea helps the antioxidants make it into your body rather than being destroyed in digestion.

Not a scientific finding, but I trust everyone knows that green and white teas steep longer and at a lower temperature than black tea: correct steeping makes for a much better taste.

I don't like milk in tea.

I've seen this study everywhere and it continues to drive me crazy! Why? Because they only studied 16 (!) people--hardly enough to qualify as a reliable piece of research. It's high-time we put this study to rest and had a cup of (milk-infused) tea instead :)

Corr blimey!!!

wonder if it holds true for non-dairy soy milk and creamers....

Tea has a wide range of health benefits. First off, it's a good way to get water into someone. The antioxidants, caffeine, warmth and so on are also good. *Milk* has a wide range of health benefits (presuming you're not lactose intolerant). Calcium, protein, fat... the list goes on and on.

Drinking tea with milk doesn't make it unhealthy, even if the antioxidant benefits are minimized. Even loading up on sugar isn't going to make it really unhealthy. Even for a soda drinker, tea will start to taste unpleasantly sweet long before you get to soda quantities of sugar.

Now from a *flavor* standpoint you won't hear me arguing. Variety is good, and milk can mute some flavors in tea. And if the tea is unpleasant without milk, it might be a good idea to swap to a tea that you like both ways... after all one does run out of milk.

I tend to agree with AmandaSW... In my research classes in school, one of the main things they taught is to take studies with a scientific grain of salt. I haven't seen the original study data, but if it's true that only 16 people were studied, the research community would probably laugh it off the map. 16 people is not a large enough group to make any significant conclusion. The margin of error is far too great, and the results could be skewed too easily.

I just asked 16 random people if they thought this study was full of crap, and 2/3 of them said yes. There's no arguing with these scientifically derived results, so I'll continue to drink my black tea the civilized way--with milk.

See, I've read the opposite, that the caffeine in tea keeps the calcium in milk from being absorbed, but there's such a small amount of it, it doesn't matter to me. I personally, can't stomach black tea without milk.

I'm not sure which antioxidants are involved but I have also heard the same think about chocolate and why dark chocolate is the best for you---but if you drink milk along side of your dark chocolate it partially negates the benefits. At this point I just try to eat plenty of veggies and hope for the best.

personally, I drink tea (really strong and slightly sweet with milk) instead of coffee because I prefer the way it tastes. I eat dark chocolate instead of milk chocolate, because I prefer the way it tastes. whether it is better for me or not doesn't as matter as much as the fact that I like the way it tastes.

and shawn, I love your answer!

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!
it can't be true, it can't be true!!!!

and haven't the germans had it in for the british for years anyway?

I've read things that state the opposite--stating that the tannins in black tea are carcinogens if consumed regularly and that milk seriously reduces the carcinogenic effects of the tannins.

I don't really know what to believe anymore. I just know I like my Earl Grey with milk and sugar and no one can stop me.

For those of us who love the taste and will give up our milky tea, oh, never, let me add to the equation that I've had multiple dentists tell me that adding milk cuts down on the tooth staining properties of black tea. So for vanity's sake, it's the way to go!

Although not always true, it's hard to argue against a thousands year old medical tradition: Very old accounts of consuming tea in China included recipes for tea with yak Milk (essentially butter), citrus and salt.

Given the choice between thousands of years of human experience versus a very low sample study from the same strain of scientists that told us to eat margarine, and told us that eggs were unhealthy, and that prescribed a low-fat, high processed food diet - I'll take the tradition any day.

However, unlike with milk, there's ample evidence that non-dairy creamer hurts you.

yeah, seriously, 16 people isn't research, it's a highschool experiment.

@ the people who are touting the health benefits of milk -- have you actually read any research on this? Remember that the USDA's interests are agriculture, not human health or nutrition. They're the ones who've convinced people that adult humans are required to drink the milk of another species. Milk has no health benefits that you can't get from plant foods, and it causes all sorts of health problems.

@nadnuk - The animal proteins and cholesterol in milk keep much of its calcium from being absorbed. It's not the caffeine that does this. But yes, too much caffeine isn't a great idea either.

eeka - We eat meat from another species, why not drink their milk too? Perhaps instead in conjunction with only drinking human milk, we should use them as our only source of meat too.

eeka - here's a huge article in Nature showing the co-evolution of cow milk and human lactase enzymes:
http://www.nature.com/ng/journal/v35/n4/full/ng1263.html

For many people without lactase genes milk is a bad thing. For human populations that evolved on a diet highly dependent on milk (like Scandinavians), it seems to be a good thing.

Humans are not homogeneous.

@Mandarin, why not just eat only plants, so that there's enough food and enough clean air for everyone on the planet? You'll live longer too.

@Easyenough, yes, I know humans have evolved so that some humans no longer get the natural response of the body rejecting milk from another species. But milk still causes other health problems. Those haven't gone away.

@Eeka - you're going to have name those "other problems." And maybe add some documentation. Otherwise you just sound like another margarine advocate - warning people away from something healthy and encouraging them to eat something dangerous (like soy).

Both tea and milk are healthy... But together aren't recommended. My scottsdale dentist recommended me to stop consuming milk with so much honey because are affecting my teeth.