Background and Aims: To explore the relationship between habitual tea consumption and arterial stiffness.

Methods: This is a cross-sectional, epidemiological survey of 6589 male and female residents aged 40–75 in Wuyishan, Fujian Province, China. Tea consumption and other lifestyle characteristics were obtained by structured questionnaires. Pulse wave velocity (PWV) and ankle–brachial pressure index (ABI) were measured using an automated analyzer.

Results: Among the 5006 analyzed subjects, 1564 adults (31.2%) consumed tea once or more per week for at least one year. The levels of brachial–ankle pulse wave velocity (ba-PWV) were lowest among subjects who consumed tea habitually for more than 10 years compared with the other 3 subgroups (nonhabitual, 1 to 5 years, and 6 to 10 years habitual tea drinkers), and the levels of ba-PWV were lower with subjects who consumed 10–20 and >20 g/d tea habitually compared to nonhabitual tea drinkers. As the duration and the daily amount of habitual tea consumption increased the average ba-PWV decreased. Multiple logistic regression models revealed that habitual tea consumption was a positive predictor for ba-PWV (odds ratio [OR] = 0.63, 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.57–0.70).

Conclusions: Habitual tea consumption may have a protective effect against arterial stiffness, especially for subjects who have habitually consumed tea for more than 6 years and >10 g daily.