Drinking tea at least three times a week could reduce your risk of dying from cardiovascular disease and is linked with a longer and healthier life, a new study reveals.

Researchers in China found that these health benefits were associated with drinking green tea specifically, as opposed to black tea. It also applies to those who have been drinking the beverage regularly over a long period of time.

At the center of the study were 100,902 people with no history of heart attack, stroke or cancer. The participants were split into two groups: habitual drinkers who drank tea three or more times a week, and those who either never drank tea or rarely drank it.

Over a period of seven years, it was discovered that regular tea drinkers had a 20% lower risk of developing heart disease and stroke, and a 22% lower risk of dying from heart disease and stroke. They also found that regular tea drinkers could potentially live 1.26 years longer at age 50 than those who did not regularly drink tea.

"We found that the protective effects of habitual tea consumption were very pronounced and robust across different outcomes for men, but only modest for women," Dr. Dongfeng Gu from China's National Center for Cardiovascular Disease, Peking Union Medical College and the Chinese Academy of Medical Science said per CNN.

He continues: "One reason might be that the proportion of habitual tea consumers among men was approximately two and a half [times] as high as that among women," Gu said. Some 48% of the men in the study were regular tea drinkers, compared with 20% of women.

However, it must be noted that this is an observational study and can only establish an association, not cause and effect.

"It is not clear from the study whether there is any benefit from higher tea intake – and therefore there is no likely benefit from increasing tea intake by the majority of the British public," said Gunter Kuhnle, professor of nutrition and food science at the University of Reading, per Metro.

Drinking tea at least three times a week could reduce your risk of dying from cardiovascular disease and is linked with a longer and healthier life, a new study reveals.

Researchers in China found that these health benefits were associated with drinking green tea specifically, as opposed to black tea. It also applies to those who have been drinking the beverage regularly over a long period of time.

At the center of the study were 100,902 people with no history of heart attack, stroke or cancer. The participants were split into two groups: habitual drinkers who drank tea three or more times a week, and those who either never drank tea or rarely drank it.

Over a period of seven years, it was discovered that regular tea drinkers had a 20% lower risk of developing heart disease and stroke, and a 22% lower risk of dying from heart disease and stroke. They also found that regular tea drinkers could potentially live 1.26 years longer at age 50 than those who did not regularly drink tea.

"We found that the protective effects of habitual tea consumption were very pronounced and robust across different outcomes for men, but only modest for women," Dr. Dongfeng Gu from China's National Center for Cardiovascular Disease, Peking Union Medical College and the Chinese Academy of Medical Science said per CNN.

He continues: "One reason might be that the proportion of habitual tea consumers among men was approximately two and a half [times] as high as that among women," Gu said. Some 48% of the men in the study were regular tea drinkers, compared with 20% of women.

However, it must be noted that this is an observational study and can only establish an association, not cause and effect.

"It is not clear from the study whether there is any benefit from higher tea intake – and therefore there is no likely benefit from increasing tea intake by the majority of the British public," said Gunter Kuhnle, professor of nutrition and food science at the University of Reading, per Metro.