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# Coffee, Tea, Vitamin D Help Fight MRSA Superbug
- URL: https://www.foodconsumer.org/coffee_tea_vitamin_d_help_fight_mrsa_superbug_0715110220/
- Published: 2011-07-15T15:17:00.000Z
- Updated: 2026-09-22T15:50:39.000Z
- Description: A non-randomized study in Annals of Family Medicine found people who drank hot tea or coffee had nearly 50 percent lower odds of carrying MRSA in the nose, though why is unknown. A separate report tied lower vitamin D in inpatients to higher costs and service use.
- Author: Food Consumer
- Tags: Food, Nutrition, Vitamin D, Coffee, Tea, MRSA, #vivvo-import

By David Liu

Friday July 15, 2011 (foodconsumer.org) -- A new study suggests that drinking hot tea or coffee may reduce the odds of carrying in the nose Methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus or MRSA which is a superbug many people are fearful of. Another study suggests that taking vitamin D supplements may also help prevent the pathogen from causing a health condition.

The study in the July-Aug 2011 issue of Annals of Family Medicine found individuals who drank hot tea or coffee lowered the odds of nasal MRSA carriage by nearly 50 percent.

This study was conducted by Eric M. Matheson, MD, MS and colleagues of Medical University of South Carolina in Charleston, South Carolina.

The study was not a trial. The findings do not mean that drinking tea or coffee would definitely reduce the risk of carrying MRSA, which can be a risk for people with the weak immune system.

Even if tea and coffee do lower the likelihood of nasal MRSA carriage, it remains unknown why these beverages could offer such a protection against MRSA.

Tea and coffee are not the things that may protect against MRSA. Vitamin D is another thing people may use to fight MRSA.

D Yousseff of East Tennessee State University in Johnson City, TN reported last month that inpatients who had lower serum vitamin D or vitamin D deficiency were more likely to have higher costs and service utilization compared with those who had higher levels of the vitamin.

This study appeared in the June 2011 issue of European Journal of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases.

It is well known that vitamin D is antibacterial. It is involved in the production of certain proteins that boost innate immunity against microbes and viruses.