How does tea help diabetes?

Tea is one of the favorite’s drinks and research suggests it’s also a healthy drink. Tea brings a number of health benefits including improving insulin sensitivity.

However, research notes that some the benefits are best experienced if you drink your tea without milk.

Teas such as black tea, green tea and oolong tea contain polyphenols which researchers believe may increase insulin activity.

Polyphenols are known to have anti-oxidative properties which can help protect against inflammation and carcinogens.

How Tea Helps to Prevent Diabetes

Green tea

Green Tea has been shown to inhibit the enzyme amylase produced and secreted by the salivary glands and pancreas for the digestion of starches.

Drinking Green Tea has also demonstrated the ability to prevent metabolism and absorption of triglycerides through the digestive tract.

These are the fatty substances that accumulate as adipose tissue (unsightly fat), clog up arteries, and like cholesterol can react adversely with oxygen in the bloodstream.

Components of Green Tea act like fat grabbers, passing the undesirable fats through the digestive tract and out the colon.

Green Tea adds to this by relaxing the muscles of the stomach and intestines thus slowing down the physical movement of food.

Anti-oxidants found in Green Tea scavenge the free radicals created from metabolic function as well as respiration. 

These free radicals react with oxygen and other air traveling molecules and toxins causing cell damage and permutations of the DNA structure that lead to cancer, heart disease, and organ failure. 

These same anti-oxidants inhibit the free radicals that are released when existing body fat is utilized for energy.

The exact way that green tea helps to reduce the risk for developing diabetes is unknown. However, studies done on mice suggest the polyphenols in green tea, in particular a catechins called epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG), mimic the effects of insulin.

In so doing, they increase the body's ability to metabolize glucose and thereby help to keep blood sugar levels from soaring too high. In addition, green tea appears to increase fat metabolism and prevent obesity, which is helpful because obesity sets the stage for diabetes.

Black Tea

Black tea, long known for its antioxidants, immune boosting and anti hypertensive properties, could have another health benefit.

The black tea polysaccharides also showed the highest scavenging effect on free radicals, which are involved in the onset of diseases such as cancer and rheumatoid arthritis.

Polysaccharides, a type of carbohydrate that includes starch and cellulose, may benefit people with diabetes because they help retard absorption of glucose.

Researchers studied the polysaccharide levels of green, oolong and black teas and whether they could be used to treat diabetes.

The researchers found that of the three teas, the polysaccharides in black tea had the most glucose-inhibiting properties.

Tea to Help Treat Type 1 Diabetes

Type 1 diabetes usually begins during childhood and it is incurable. These individuals require insulin shots and there is currently no substitute for this treatment. However, drinking green or oolong tea daily can work adjunctively with insulin shots. Tea can help to enhance the body's ability to utilize insulin and drinking 4 to 6 cups daily may therefore help to reduce the dose of insulin that is required. In addition, the regular consumption of tea has been found to help slow the progression of type 1 diabetes once it is established.

Tea to Help Treat Type 2 Diabetes

Type-2 diabetes is a disease that results primarily from lifestyle factors. Following a proper diet and exercise routine can reverse type 2 diabetes and both green and oolong tea can work adjunctively to facilitate the reversal. Green tea has been found to improve sensitivity to insulin and enhance glucose tolerance. It also helps to block the absorption of glucose into the bloodstream and prevent blood glucose levels from rising too high.

Oolong tea is also beneficial for the management of type 2 diabetes. In fact, a one month study done on type 2 diabetics found that drinking 6 cups of oolong tea daily reduced participants blood glucose levels from 229 to 162 milligrams/deciliter. Another study used 4.5 cups of oolong tea daily, and it resulted in a marked decrease in A1C levels, which is the measure used to calculate an individuals average blood glucose levels over a three month period.