How does tea mushroom affect blood sugar levels?
Last reviewed: 07.06.2024
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If you consume a cup of tea mushroom-based drink regularly for one month, you can qualitatively lower fasting blood sugar levels in people suffering from insulin-independent diabetes. This was stated by the staff of the College of Health at Georgetown University and the University of Nebraska-Lincoln after a clinical study.
There is hardly a person who has never heard of tea mushroom, the most popular fermented beverage known in China since 200 BC. In our country, as well as in the United States, it became particularly popular around the 90s. Many people who used the drink, even then confidently stated about its unique healing properties, such as strengthening immunity, inhibition of inflammatory processes. Nevertheless, no scientific confirmation of these abilities of the tea mushroom was presented.
It was only a little later that scientists returned to the research, which suggested that the fermented beverage could probably lower blood sugar levels. A relatively recent clinical study evaluated the hypoglycemic activity of tea mushroom in adult patients with insulin-independent diabetes mellitus.
The randomized, double-blind, crossover experiment included 12 participants who were divided into two groups. One group received a cup (about 240 ml) of the fermented drink every day for a month. The other group was given a placebo drink at the same time. Then they took a break in the intake for 2 months, after which the course of intake was resumed for another 1 month. During the whole experiment the participants did not know what kind of drink they were taking. Fasting blood sugar values were measured both at the beginning of the study and every first and fourth week of the treatment course.
According to the results of clinical work, the following conclusions were made: regular consumption of tea mushroom drink for a month allowed to lower the average blood sugar on an empty stomach, compared with the initial level, from 9.1 mm/liter to 6.4 mm/liter (that is, from 164 mg/liter to 116 mg/liter). Meanwhile, no changes in glucose values were found in patients who took the placebo drink. It is stated that the beneficial composition of the tea mushroom, which was evaluated by culture enumeration, included mainly lactic acid and acetic acid microorganisms, as well as yeast.
Despite the fact that the experiment was conducted with a relatively small group of people, the ability of tea mushroom to qualitatively lower blood sugar levels in diabetic patients can be considered reliable. The researchers believe that further, larger-scale similar studies will only confirm the results obtained.
For more details on this research paper, please go to source link