Drinking multiple cups of tea a day may lower diabetes risk, according to a new study. Catherine Falls Commercial/Getty Images Researchers investigated the effects of drinking different types of tea—such as green tea, oolong tea, and black tea—on diabetes risk.
They found that drinking 1–3 cups of tea decreased type 2 diabetes risk slightly but that drinking 4 or more cups of tea daily was linked to a 17% lower risk.
However, further study is needed to confirm the results.
According to the World Health Organization, around 422 millionTrusted Source people live with diabetes globally. The most common type is type 2 diabetes, which happens when the body cannot make sufficient insulin or becomes resistant to insulin and cannot easily absorb insulin from the blood. Some studies have found that consuming teaTrusted Source and coffee is linked to reduced all-cause mortality. Other researchTrusted Source indicates that daily green tea consumption is linked to a lower risk of type 2 diabetes and a lower risk of all-cause mortality in people with diabetes.
Further study on the effects of tea and dosage on diabetes risk in large populations could inform preventive care strategies for diabetes.
Recently, researchers conducted a meta-analysis of 19 cohort studies from eight countries to investigate the effects of black, green, and oolong tea consumption on type 2 diabetes risk.
They found that drinking 4 or more cups of tea per day may reduce diabetes risk.
“Drinking tea does not seem to be harmful and may confer a small benefit in diabetes risk reduction,” Dr. Kashif M. Munir, associate professor of medicine at the University of Maryland Center for Diabetes and Endocrinology, who was not involved in the study, told Medical News Today, “Other foods high in polyphenols have shown similar effects.” The meta-analysis was presented at the European Association for the Study of Diabetes Annual Meeting in Stockholm, Sweden.
For the study, the researchers analyzed data from 5,199 adult participants from the China Health and Nutrition Survey. Participants did not have diabetes at the start of the study and were followed from 1997 to 2009. Their tea consumption was collected from questionnaires. Altogether, 45.76% of the participants reported drinking tea, and 10.04% of the cohort developed type 2 diabetes over the study period.
