kolkata tea does have various health attributes but it isnt entirely the magic potion it is thought to be drinking copious quantities of the beverage with the breakfast or immediately after a meal does more harm than good doctors are beginning to correlate the high incidence of anaemia in eastern india with the populations tea drinking habit analysis of pathology tests done at global diagnostic chain srl over three years 201214 has revealed that a significant number of indian urban men have abnormal haemoglobin levels usually associated with women the incidence of low haemoglobin level was highest in the east at 524 followed by 486 in north 393 in west and 27 in south coffee is more popular beverage in west and south india studies show that tea limits the absorption of iron in the diet also known as nonhaem iron this leads to reduced haemoglobin concentration hence the practice of having tea with breakfast or after major meals like lunch or dinner is not a good idea tea is best had between meals said leena chatterjee director fortis srl labs srl strategic initiatives preventive medicine specialist debashish basu agreed tannins in tea bind with iron molecules and prevent their absorption so it is better to have tea without milk and with a few drops of lemon it neutralizes the tannins to an extent but a majority of teadrinkers in the east prefer to have it with milk and dont care to refrain from drinking tea before or after meals said basu apart from the correlation of tea and anaemia the other major factor that causes high anaemic levels in the east is the high incidence of abnormal haemoglobin in the region a significant section of the population in the east has haemoglobin e or haemoglobinopathy that causes chronic anaemia according to some studies but some senior doctors believe there are other reasons as well more women suffer from anaemia than men due to menstrual blood loss and malnutrition in our social structure women tend to eat last and are often deprived of nutritious food but with economic progress things have changed more women now eat better food which has narrowed the gap between men and women in terms of the number of anaemia patients said pk nemani senior consultant at cmri hospital and an executive committee member of west bengal medical council a reason why eastern region has more suffering from anaemia could also be due to lack of iron in the diet felt nemani our region consumes more meat and less vegetables which is not the case in other parts of the country also the eastern region has always been lagging behind the other regions economically which gets reflected in the diet nemani said of 30 lakh men screened in the study 435 samples returned low haemoglobin levels the elder population was found at higher risks than the young according to a study by world health organization the prevalence of anaemia in all groups in india is