Health benefits of tea are many. Now, add one more to the long list -- drinking two cups of the hot beverage everyday could boost a woman's chances of having a baby, says a new study.

Researchers at Boston University have found that woman are 27 per cent more likely to become pregnant if they drink tea regularly compared with those who don't -- in fact, they say the antioxidants in the beverage actually aid fertility.

What's worrying is that the same study found consuming two fizzy drinks daily can well reduce a woman's prospects of conceiving -- whether the drink is a diet or a sugary version, the Daily Mail reported.

In fact, the study has found that women who drink soft drinks twice a day can reduce their chances of becoming pregnant by 20 per cent. However, there's no effect on the chances of pregnancy for women who prefer to drink coffee.

The researchers have based their findings on an analysis of a group of 3,600 women who were actively trying for a baby over a period of one year.

Lead author Prof Elizabeth Hatch said: "We found that women who drank tea two or three times a day did have a 27 per cent increased chance of becoming pregnant."

"We don't know how they took the tea or if they added milk or lemon, but they had this increased chance of getting pregnant over women who did not drink tea at all. It may be linked to caffeine."

"I think drinking two or three cups of tea a day for anyone wishing to get pregnant will be fine. There may be other factors. The tea drinkers tended to be older women and there may be something else in their lifestyle that helped." Green tea has previously been linked with increasing women's chances of becoming pregnant.

However, in this study women were asked to record their consumption of green or herbal tea in the same section and no link with increased chance of pregnancy was found, say the researchers.

Experts have welcomed the findings but urged would-be mothers not to drink too much tea during pregnancy.

Maha Ragunath, consultant in reproductive medicine at the Care Fertility Centre in Nottingham, said: "Tea contains a lot of antioxidants which are very good for male and female fertility. But I don't think women trying for a baby should now drink lots of tea, it's everything in moderation."