No, tea will not affect a fasting blood test in most instances.
Many of my clients often have to undergo blood tests to ensure that everything is functioning properly. Therefore, I get the question will tea affect a fasting blood test quite often.
In this post, I will let you know why tea won’t have an impact on the results as well as provide you with general information on blood tests. Let’s get started!
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So, why are you given a free pass on tea and water but have to stay away from food? Well, this all depends on what your doctor is actually testing for.
The most common tests that require fasting are glucose and triglyceride tests. Here, doctors need to check the levels of blood glucose or fatty particles in the blood. As such, they need to make sure that sugars or fats in your meals won’t interfere with the readings.
Tea, however, doesn’t contain these ingredients. As such, it won’t have any kind of impact on the test. This is why you are free to have your daily cup. However, your doctor will probably advise you to skip the milk and sugar if you usually add it to your tea.
Of course, it is a good idea to clarify with your doctor just how much tea you can drink. They may also advise you to drink green tea instead of black tea if they are looking for something specific in your tests.
As mentioned above, the kind of fasting that you need to do will depend on the kind of test that you are taking. Due to this, your doctor may ask you to drink nothing but water until the test has been completed. In these cases, you will have to give your tea a miss.
See, tea contains caffeine and the caffeine can skew certain test results. This means that your doctor won’t be able to get an accurate idea of what is actually going on. If you do slip up and accidentally have some tea despite your doctor’s instructions, let them know. You may have to postpone or reschedule the test.
If you have been warned of any kind of drink, it is a good idea to skip the herbal teas as well. It is difficult to know the exact effect that these teas can have on your system. So, it is better to steer clear until the test is over.
Even if your doctor tells you that water, tea, and coffee are fine, this doesn’t automatically mean that all beverages are on the table. You are still going to need to avoid sodas, carbonated drinks, energy drinks, sugary drinks, and fruit juices as well.
All such drinks contain sugars, additives, and more. Due to this, they may skew the results in a variety of ways. Thus, you should stay away. If you have any confusion it is a good idea to clarify with your doctor to preserve the accuracy of the tests.
So, there you have it – in most cases, tea won’t have an impact on your fasting blood test. In some instances, though, you may need to stop or reduce your consumption until the test has been completed. More often than not, this will depend on the kind of test you will be undergoing.
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