New research suggests that people who drink at least four cups of tea a day have a reduced risk of type 2 diabetes compared to those who drink none at all.
An extensive meta-analysis
Over the years, a growing body of research on potential benefits of tea for cardiovascular health or reduction in the risk of cancer and dementia have been published. Presented at the last annual meeting of the European Association for the Study of Diabetes (EASD), this new meta-analysis involving one million data analysis of adults was specifically aimed at clarifying the relationship between the consumption of thé and the risk of diabetes de type 2.
First, the team looked at a cohort study in which 5,000 adults had been followed for twelve years. While half of the subjects reported drinking tea, at the end of the follow-up period, rates of type 2 diabetes were similar among tea drinkers and non-drinkers.
The second part of the research was to determine whether tea consumption and diabetes exhibited a dose-response relationship. By reviewing 19 studies that included detailed data on tea drinking frequency, the researchers found that the reduced risk of type 2 diabetes was largely related to the amount of tea a person consumed regularly.
While subjects who drank one to three cups of tea a day had a 4% lower risk of developing diabetes than nondrinkers, those who consumed four or more cups a day were 17% less likely to develop the condition. According to the study authors, this reduction in the risk of diabetes was observed even after taking into account gender, geographical location and the type of tea consumed.
Compounds in tea that may lower blood sugar
« It’s possible that particular components of tea, such as polyphenols, can lower blood sugar, but enough of these bioactive compounds might be needed to be effective. », avance Xiaoying Li. « This may also explain why we did not find an association between tea consumption and type 2 diabetes in the cohort study, as we did not examine higher tea consumption.. »
While further research will be needed to establish the exact dosage and the mechanisms behind these observations, such results suggest that high tea consumption (at least 4 cups per day) helps reduce the risk of diabetes.