and the last part

The experimentation and modeling contained in this report may be relevant to understanding the potential benefits of tea preparation on a local or global scale. The practical utility here is in recognizing and leveraging existing cultural practices for unintended benefits, especially in contexts where access to advanced water treatment is limited. While it can be very difficult to determine the individual benefits of tea consumption, these data suggest it is possible that across a large population, high levels of tea consumption may have the ability to lower metal intake by a statistically significant percentage that may be reflected in public health outcomes. We do not report on the ability of tea leaves to remediate other toxic substances, such as microorganisms or organic pollutants, but metal toxicity alone accounts for a substantial fraction of the world’s total health burden.24−28 This research raises awareness of a simple, accessible, and culturally embedded practice that may offer an unintended benefit in mitigating heavy metal exposure, particularly relevant in regions with coexisting lead contamination and high levels of tea consumption. A rudimentary estimate, working from the assumption that tea preparation removes 15% of metals while accounting for one-fifth of the average person’s liquid consumption over the day�as is possible in countries with high levels of tea consumption�would reduce lead intake from drinking water by 3% on a population level. This is an amount that could be meaningful enough to be reflected in mortality data for diseases with strong associations with metal toxicity.24,29 While not a complete solution to lead contamination, in the absence of dedicated water treatment infrastructure, this passive remediation offered by tea preparation provides a readily available and culturally integrated means of reducing lead exposure, potentially contributing to improved public health outcomes. The authors encourage future research in related fields to explore this potential and disentangle confounding variables to determine whether tea consumption has a measurable effect on metal toxicity in real-world populations. Finally, this Letter begins to explore the processing−structure−property−performance relationships in tea leaves, bringing the paradigm of materials science to an unlikely adsorbent system. The authors hope that others use this methodology to explore additional interesting phenomena in “consumed materials” like tea leaves, bioinspired membranes, and filtration media that mimic the properties of tea and repurposed materials derived from spent tea leaves.