AN OPTICIANS in Stroud has partnered with a local café to offer a free green tea to all customers who come in for a sight test during January.

Specsavers on King Street has partnered with The Socialight Café on the High Street to encourage the local community to drink more green tea, after it has been associated with a reduced risk of age-related cataracts.

It comes after a recent study showed the supposed benefits of green tea in protecting against age-related cataracts.

“It’s long been suspected that green tea decreases the risk of age-related cataracts, and this study has gone one step further in proving this theory,” said store director and optometrist Rizwan Choonara.

“Given it’s a new year, we thought this was a great time to encourage people to pop in for a sight test and in return receive a complimentary green tea at The Socialight.”

Café owner, Kelly Pitt, said: “When Riz approached us about this joint activity, we couldn’t have been more excited.

“We have been long-time advocates of the health benefits of green tea and think it’s a great way to get more people drinking it.

“We’re really looking forward to meeting all the Specsavers customers.’ Riz added: “Age-related cataracts are very common – in fact they are the main cause of impaired vision worldwide.

“It’s estimated that 2.5 million people aged 65 or older have some degree of visual impairment caused by cataracts.

“We hope that this encourages Stroud to get their eyes tested this month and look for ways to take better care of their eye health in 2017.”

This offer will run until Wednesday, February 8.

To book an appointment or find out more, please visit Specsavers at 22 King Street, call 01453 766 601 or visit www.specsavers.co.uk/stores/stroud

The study was: Tea and Risk of Age-Related Cataracts: A Cross-Sectional Study in Zhejiang Province, China; Journal of Epidemiology, 2016