Little-known facts about tea's health perks

In honour of Hot Tea Month in January--an occasion noted on Health Canada's Health Promotion Calendar--the Tea Association of Canada has released new research on the popular beverage's health benefits.

Tea has long been known for packing a healthy punch of antioxidants, but there are other pros to sipping tea. "There is a large and growing body of research backing it as a healthy, good for you beverage," notes Louise Roberge, president of the Tea Association of Canada, in a release.

Here are some quick facts from the association about tea:

• The average Canadian tea drinker consumed 8.3 cups of tea per week in 2014.
• Canadians drank approximately 10 million cups of tea in 2014.
• Subjects in one test who consumed green tea and caffeine lost an average of 2.9 pounds within 12 weeks while maintaining their ordinary diet.
• In another study, when two to three cups of tea were consumed within 90 minutes, it improved the attention of participants and made them more focused on their given task.
• Along with maintaining a healthy diet, one to two cups of tea a day may lower the risk of heart disease.
• Having one cup of tea per day could reduce the incidence of stroke and heart attacks by eight to 10 per cent.