Four cups of tea daily to control type 2 diabetes

by time news

Drinking four cups a day of black, green, or a type of traditional Chinese tea (oolong) may reduce the risk of developing type 2 diabetes, according to new research being presented at the annual meeting of the European Association for the Study of Diabetes. Diabetes, which will be held this week in Stockholm.

The relationship between tea consumption and type 2 diabetes risk has been studied previously, but results have been inconsistent, he says. Xiaoying Li, first author of the research and a graduate student at the Wuhan University of Science and Technology (China).

“Our study showed that the association between tea consumption and type 2 diabetes depended on the amount of tea consumed. Only sufficient consumption of tea can show clinical effects,” Li told CNN. “Based on our findings, I would advise the public to consume more tea in their daily life, if appropriate.”

The authors studied 5,199 adults with no history of type 2 diabetes who had participated in the China Health and Nutrition Survey (CHNS).

The CHNS is a prospective study examining the economy, sociological issues, and health of residents of nine Chinese provinces. They were recruited in 1997 and followed until 2009.

At the beginning of the study, the participants provided information on lifestyle factors, such as eating and drinking habits, exercise, smoking and alcohol consumption.

“Based on our findings, I would advise the public to consume more tea in their daily lives”

Initially, the researchers found that tea drinkers and non-drinkers in their study had a similar risk of developing type 2 diabetes.

But when the researchers decided to look at whether the amount consumed among tea drinkers made a difference, conducting a systematic review of 19 cohort studies involving more than a million adults from eight countries, the results were different: the more cups of green, oolong, or black tea the participants drank daily, the lower their risk of developing type 2 diabetes.

The measures followed in these studies were whether the participants drank less than one cup of tea a day, one to three cups a day, or four or more).

The authors cautioned that their research does not prove that drinking tea reduces the risk of type 2 diabetes, but it does suggest that tea consumption likely contributes to it. They also noted that they relied on the participants’ own assessments of their tea consumption and could not rule out the possibility that unmeasured physiological and lifestyle factors might have affected the results.

Experts not involved in the research have concurred with the authors’ acknowledgment of the shortcomings of the current research.

“It could be that people who drink more tea avoid or drink equivalent or more harmful sugary drinks less frequently, or have other health behaviors that lead to a lower risk of type 2 diabetes,” says Naveed Sattar, professor of metabolic medicine at the University of Glasgow, in a statement.

“The results should be taken with a large pinch of salt (or a cup of tea),” Kevin McConway of the UK Open University said in a statement. “The problem with the conclusions of meta-analyses is that the devil is always in the details, and we don’t have them. What studies were included? What was its quality? Which people, from which countries, were studied?

More research is needed to determine exactly how green, black or oolong tea — and the amount consumed — might affect type 2 diabetes risk, Li says.

‘Certain components of tea, such as polyphenolsthey can lower blood glucose concentration by inhibiting the activity of α-glucosidase and/or inhibiting the activity of other enzymes, but a sufficient amount of the bioactive substance is needed for it to be effective,” adds Li.

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