Is it possible to drink too much tea?

Tea contains natural antioxidants called polyphenols, which have many positive effects on the body. For instance, drinking more than three cups a day has been found to reduce the risk of a heart attack.

The 40mg of caffeine per cup (roughly half as much as coffee) won’t have any impact on your health until you get to at least eight cups per day – so you should probably stop at that point. But it’s possible to take anything to extremes. In 2013, a US woman lost all her teeth due to fluoride poisoning from tea. She was drinking a pitcher of iced tea every day for 17 years, and each pitcher was reportedly brewed with 100 to 150 tea bags!

Read more:

• Does stirring a cup of tea make it cool quicker?
• How are we able to drink scalding drinks, like tea?

Subscribe to BBC Science Focus Magazine for fascinating new Q&As every month and follow @sciencefocusQA on Twitter for your daily dose of fun facts.