When
a 56-year-old Arkansas man went to the hospital last May complaining of
weakness, fatigue, and body aches, at first his doctors couldn’t figure
out what was wrong with him. Tests revealed he was in kidney failure,
and yet he had no history of kidney problems, nor did anyone in his
family. After some prodding, the man finally admitted he was in the
habit of consuming sixteen eight-ounce glasses of iced tea, every day. The case was described this week in a letter to the editor in The New England Journal of Medicine.
Black
tea, which was this man’s preferred variety, is high in oxalate, a
chemical compound that can contribute to kidney problems. This is likely
what caused this man’s health problems, as he was consuming between 3
and 10 times more oxalate than the average American does daily.
By all means, drink tea — black tea, in particular, has been linked to a decreased risk of cancer and heart disease,
to name just a couple of its health benefits. But maybe don’t down a
gallon a day, as this man’s kidney issues were, according to the authors
of the letter, “almost certainly due to excessive consumption of iced
tea. 
