Researchers found that tea drinkers reduced their risk of type 2 diabetes by 1% for every cup consumed. Photo by langll/PixaRbay
Researchers studying the effects of tea found that drinking four or more cups of black, green, or oolong tea daily over a decade was associated with a 17% lower risk of developing type 2 diabetes .
“Our findings are exciting because they suggest that people can do something as simple as drinking four cups of tea a day to potentially reduce their risk of developing type 2 diabetes,” the lead author said Study, Xiaying Li, from Wuhan University of Science and Technology in China.
Li’s team conducted a meta-analysis of 19 studies involving more than 1 million adults from eight countries.
First, they studied nearly 5,200 adults with no history of type 2 diabetes and a median age of 42, who were recruited in 1997 and included in the China Health and Nutrition Survey until 2009.
Study participants answered questionnaires about food and drink frequency and provided information about lifestyle factors such as regular exercise, smoking and alcohol consumption. About 46% of the participants reported drinking tea. About 10% (522 people) developed type 2 diabetes at the end of the study.
The researchers corrected for the known links to diabetes and found that the results of this study were similar for tea drinkers and those who did not drink tea.
The research team then conducted a systematic review of all studies examining tea drinking and the risk of type 2 diabetes in adults through September 2021.
The team looked at three types of tea and cup frequency, including less than one cup per day, one to three cups per day, and four or more cups per day. They also took into account gender and whether the participants were in Europe, the United States, or Asia.
This time, the researchers found that tea drinkers reduced their risk of type 2 diabetes by 1% for every cup consumed. Compared to people who didn’t drink tea, adults who drank one to three cups a day reduced their risk by 4%. Those who consume at least four cups a day reduce their risk by 17%.
This happened regardless of location, gender or type of tea.
The results will be presented this week at the annual meeting of the European Association for the Study of Diabetes (EASD) in Stockholm. Results presented at medical congresses should be considered preliminary until published in a peer-reviewed journal.
“While more research needs to be done to determine the exact dosage and mechanisms behind these observations, our results suggest that drinking tea reduces the risk of type 2 diabetes, but only at high doses (at least 4 weeks). cups per day). ‘ Li said in a press release of the meeting.
“It’s possible that certain components in tea, such as polyphenols, can lower blood sugar levels, but sufficient amounts of these bioactive compounds may be required to be effective in type 2 diabetes in our cohort study because we didn’t account for higher tea consumption.” have,” Li added.
Limitations of the study include reliance on self-reports of the amounts of tea consumed. It is also possible that other lifestyle or physiological factors influenced the results.
More information
The US National Institutes of Health share a study on the effects of tea on cancer.
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