Woman Who Consumes 150 Tea Bags A Day Has Bone Problems
A 47 year old woman from Detroit told doctors that she consumed a pitcher of tea made from 100 to 150 tea bags daily for the past 17 years.
The woman said that she had problems with her teeth for the past five years and that she had pain in her lower back, arms, legs and hips.
Her case was published in the New England Journal of medicine on March 21st where it was also mentioned that all her teeth were removed because they were too brittle.
Doctor Naveen Kakumanu and Sudhaker Rao from the Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit said that X-rays showed the woman’s membranes separating, and her bones becoming calcified. They also said that there was a striped pattern called “rugger jersey spine”, which means there is increased bone density.
She was diagnosed with skeletal fluorosis, a condition that appears when large quantities of fluoride are consumed. Symptoms of skeletal fluorosis include stiffness, joint pain, and in severe cases calcified ligaments and muscle impairment.
The patient was getting her fluoride overdose from the brewed tea that has one of the highest fluoride concentrations out of all beverages sold in the United States.
Her 150 tea bags a day habit was stopped with the help of some counseling, and her situation quickly improved.