Tea is touted for its health advantages, including its ability to fight inflammation, boost immunity and supply protection against various types of cancer. Researchers now say regular drinking of dark tea can slash the chance of developing diabetes to almost half.
Day by day consumers of dark tea are at a 53% lower risk of developing prediabetes and 47% reduced risk for type 2 diabetes in comparison with individuals who never drink tea, a latest study suggests. The findings of the study were presented on the annual meeting of the European Association for the Study of Diabetes (EASD) in Hamburg, Germany.
Type-2 diabetes occurs when cells develop insulin resistance, a condition by which they don’t respond normally to insulin, the hormone produced by the pancreas for blood sugar regulation.
Prediabetes is a health condition wherein the blood sugar levels are high but not high enough to be considered diabetic. Greater than 30% of adults within the U.S. are prediabetic. An individual is taken into account diabetic when the fasting blood sugar level is 126 mg/dL or higher in two separate tests, while they’re prediabetic when the fasting level is from 100 to 125 mg/dL.
“The substantial health advantages of tea, including a reduced risk of heart problems and sort 2 diabetes, have been reported in several studies over recent years, however the mechanisms underlying these advantages have been unclear,” study co-lead writer Tongzhi Wu, from the University of Adelaide, Australia, said in a news release.
Researchers attribute the protective effects on blood sugar management to increased glucose excretion and improved insulin resistance that comes with habitual tea drinking. The observational study doesn’t prove that drinking tea each day improves blood sugar control but suggests it may likely contribute to raised sugar control.
“Our findings hint on the protective effects of habitual tea drinking on blood sugar management via increased glucose excretion in urine, improved insulin resistance and thus higher control of blood sugar. These advantages were most pronounced amongst each day dark tea drinkers,” Wu said.
The key to raised metabolic control lies within the microbial fermentation of dark tea. The method brings out bioactive compounds with antioxidant and inflammatory effects, which improve insulin sensitivity, higher performance of pancreatic beta cells and alter the composition of the gut bacteria, the researchers said.
The study included 1,923 adults from eight provinces in China. Of them, 436 participants had diabetes, 352 were prediabetic, and the remainder had normal blood glucose levels. The study examined the frequency and the form of tea consumed by the participants.
Researchers measured the consumption and excretion of glucose within the urine, insulin resistance, and glycemic status (blood glucose level) of the participants.
Diabetes patients are likely to reabsorb glucose, which contributes to higher blood sugar levels.
“After accounting for differences in age, sex, and clinical and lifestyle aspects, the evaluation found that drinking tea each day was related to a rise in urinary glucose excretion (UGCR by 0.11 mmol/mmol) and a discount in insulin resistance (TyG by -0.23), in addition to 15% lower risk for prediabetes and 28% reduced risk for type 2 diabetes, compared with never tea-drinkers,” the researchers wrote.
To further validate the findings, researchers conducted a double-blind, randomized trial on people living with type 2 diabetes.
“Our findings suggest that drinking dark tea each day has the potential to minimize type 2 diabetes risk and progression through higher blood sugar control. Whenever you take a look at all different biomarkers related to habitual drinking of dark tea, it might be one easy step people can easily take to enhance their weight loss program and health,” added co-lead writer Zilin Sun, from Southeast University.