Tea could help diabetes
Recent studies have found that both green and black tea may have beneficial effects when it comes to controlling type 2 diabetes.
Diabetes is understood to be the fastest growing epidemic in the developed world. The World Health Organisation estimates that more than 380 million people worldwide will suffer from the disease by 2025. The scale of the problem was also recently recognised in a general resolution by the United Nations, not surprising given that Diabetes is expected to cause 3.8 million deaths worldwide in 2007, roughly 6% of total world mortality, about the same as HIV/AIDS and malaria combined. Each year another 7 million people develop diabetes.
Diabetes is a disease in which the body does not produce or properly use insulin, the hormone that converts sugar and other food into energy. The most common type of diabetes seen today is Type 2, where insulin is produced (though sometimes not in a high enough quantity), but is not used properly, resulting in a high level of blood glucose in the body. Type 1 diabetes is diagnosed in childhood, and results from an inability to produce insulin.
In addition to losing weight and getting regular exercise, it appears that drinking tea may also help prevent diabetes and its complications. In recent years, most of the medical research done on tea has focused on green tea, and it has been widely assumed that green tea provides more health benefits than black tea. This assumption has been made because green tea retains more of its natural anti-oxidants than black tea. Black tea is fermented when it is processed; green tea is not. During this processing, some of the anti-oxidants, namely EGCG are nearly destroyed.
Because EGCG is though to be one of the most important anti-oxidants in tea, it has been thought that green tea is far more beneficial than black tea. However, this does not appear to be the case when it comes to preventing Type 2 diabetes and its complications. It appears that either type of tea is able to regulate blood sugar naturally.
One study, conducted by the University of Scranton in Pennsylvania conducted studies on diabetic mice to determine the effects of tea on blood sugar levels. They fed them green and black tea for a period of three months before beginning to evaluate them. The study found that both green and black tea decreased blood glucose levels over those of the mice who were not fed tea. These decreased glucose levels had the power to also reduce the complications of diabetes affecting the mice.
Recently, scientists at the University of Dundee also found that black tea may have therapeutic properties which could help control Type 2 diabetes. The team discovered that several black tea constituents, known as theaflavins and thearubigins, mimicked insulin action on proteins known as FOXOs.
Study leader Dr Graham Rena said: “FOXOs have previously been shown to underlie associations between diet and health in a wide variety of organisms. If we can identify substances that restore FOXO regulation in people with Type 2 diabetes, we might be able to use these to reduce the considerable burden of serious health problems associated with this diagnosis.”
But Graham Rena warned: “This is something that needs further research and people shouldn’t be rushing to drink masses of black tea thinking it will cure them of diabetes – we are still some way from this leading to new treatments or dietary advice.
“Our research into tea compounds is at a preclinical, experimental stage and people with diabetes should continue to take their medicines as directed by their doctor.”
He adds, however, that there is “definitely something interesting in the way these naturally occurring components of black tea may have a beneficial effect, both in terms of diabetes and our wider health.
The results of this research appears in the Feb 2008 issue of the journal Aging Cell.
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