Love for tea reduces the risk of developing diabetes
Last reviewed: 16.10.2021
All iLive content is medically reviewed or fact checked to ensure as much factual accuracy as possible.
We have strict sourcing guidelines and only link to reputable media sites, academic research institutions and, whenever possible, medically peer reviewed studies. Note that the numbers in parentheses ([1], [2], etc.) are clickable links to these studies.
If you feel that any of our content is inaccurate, out-of-date, or otherwise questionable, please select it and press Ctrl + Enter.
The use of four or more cups of tea a day reduces the risk of developing type 2 diabetes in middle-aged people. To this conclusion came the researchers from the German University of Heinrich Heine in Dusseldorf.
The group of scientists was headed by Dr. Christian Herder, who leads the University Center for Diabetes Research. Leibniz. Experts studied the indicators for the incidence of type 2 diabetes among people in different European countries. It turned out that in the most "tea" countries (like the UK), this figure is 20% lower than the European average.
In different states of Europe there is a different attitude towards tea. For example, in Spain, he is almost never drunk, and in the column "the number of cups drunk a day," the researchers set a zero. But after studying the diet of the British, a figure of four appeared here. It is this amount of tea that is the most effective in the prevention of type 2 diabetes.
Meanwhile, the use of one to three cups of tea, as it turned out, does not in any way affect the reduction in the risk of diabetes in middle age. So we need to either increase the amount of tea drunk, or fight other risk factors.
"The main risk factor for type 2 diabetes is obesity," says Christina Herder, "But dietary factors also play a significant role, and we are only interested in one of them, the use of tea." It turned out that using it, the risk of type 2 diabetes can be reduced by 20% "Tea affects the processes of absorption and digestion of glucose, it protects beta cells from the action of free radicals.It is possible that this effect is due to the presence of polyphenols in tea."