Tea consumption over the past years was evaluated by several methods. Participants were first classified as either “never” or “ever” tea drinkers. Information was then sought from all of the ever-drinkers on their usual consumption pattern, types of tea, years of tea drinking, and average frequency for each type of tea (number of cups brewed from each new batch of tea). Green tea was defined as the nonoxidized/nonfermented product, such as “Long Jing” tea. Black tea was specified as the oxidized/fermented product, such as “Lipton” tea, whereas Oolong tea was a partially oxidized/fermented product (8) . The color of a brew of tea was used to identify tea types for those few participants who could not differentiate the kind of tea they drank. Green tea appears light green in color, whereas black tea shows a dark color after being brewed in hot water. Because the tea intake among the study population varied from never to four or more times a day, the frequency of habitual tea consumption was categorized as follows: never or seldom, once a month, two to three times a month, once a week, two to three times a week, four to six times a week, once a day, two to three times a day, and more than or equal to four times a day.