Tea has a long history in China and is also very popular around the world. Tea is thought to have a variety of health benefits due to its rich content of nutrients and antioxidants. Several studies have shown that tea extract may have the potential to inhibit cancer growth, extend life, and reduce the risk of high blood pressure and heart disease.
On October 2, 2023, researchers from Southeast University in China and the University of Adelaide in Australia released a latest study at the 2023 European Association for the Study of Diabetes (EASD) annual meeting.
The study showed that people who drank black tea every day had a 47% lower risk of developing type 2 diabetes and a 53% lower risk of developing prediabetes, compared with people who never drank tea.
In the study, researchers analyzed 1,923 adults, including 562 men and 1,361 women, aged 20-80, from eight provinces in China. The frequency and type of tea drinking of participants were collected through questionnaires, and the frequency and type of tea drinking were related to urinary glucose excretion, insulin resistance, and blood glucose status.
During the study period, a total of 436 people were recorded as having diabetes and 352 as having prediabetes.
Studies have found that people who drink tea every day have a 0.11 increase in glucose excretion in the urine and a 0.23 decrease in insulin resistance. Compared with people who never drink tea, the risk of type 2 diabetes is reduced by 28% and the risk of prediabetes is reduced by 15%.
When the researchers analyzed by type of tea, these benefits were more pronounced for black tea drinkers, who were associated with a 0.16 increase in urinary glucose excretion and a 0.31 decrease in insulin resistance.
Compared with people who never drank tea, people who drank black tea every day had a 47% lower risk of developing type 2 diabetes and a 53% lower risk of developing prediabetes.
Further analysis found that the role of bioactive compounds in black tea may directly or indirectly regulate glucose excretion in the kidneys, like the effects of the diabetes drug sodium-glucose cotransporter 2 (SGLT2) inhibitors. Not only can it effectively prevent and treat type 2 diabetes, but it also has a significant protective effect on the heart and kidneys.
Researchers say the mechanism by which drinking tea reduces the risk of diabetes has been unclear. Our research shows that habitual tea drinking has a protective effect on blood sugar management by increasing glucose excretion in urine and improving insulin resistance, thereby better controlling blood sugar. Black tea has the most obvious effect.
As for the mechanism, the researchers speculate that the beneficial effect may lie in the unique way black tea is produced, because its production process involves unique microbial fermentation. The fermentation process may produce unique bioactive compounds, including alkaloids, free amino acids, polyphenols, etc., which exhibit potent antioxidant and anti-inflammatory effects, improve insulin sensitivity and beta cell performance in the pancreas.
Still, the researchers caution that this is an observational study and cannot show cause and effect. The researchers are currently conducting a double-blind, randomized trial to analyze the benefits of black tea on blood sugar control in patients with type 2 diabetes to verify their findings.
To sum up, research shows that habitual drinking of tea can help reduce the risk of diabetes, especially black tea. Drinking black tea can improve insulin resistance by increasing glucose excretion in urine, thereby better controlling blood sugar.
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