Black Tea Improves Glucose Levels, May Help Prevent Diabetes
Although green tea has been getting most of the attention lately for its myriad health benefits, accumulating research shows that black tea offers advantages, too. The latest revelation: black tea’s ability to blunt increases in blood sugar. 1
A new study has found that black tea significantly reduces rises in blood glucose levels among both healthy and pre-diabetic adults, in this case after consuming a sugary drink. 1
“We demonstrated that black tea reduced incremental blood glucose after sucrose consumption at 60, 90 and 120 minutes compared with placebo,” wrote the authors of the study, which appears in the Asia Pacific Journal of Clinical Nutrition. 1
“The data confirm that polyphenols lower glycemic response and may be responsible for the lower rates of diabetes observed with tea and coffee consumption,” said Peter Clifton, M.D., PhD., professor of nutrition at the University of South Australia in Adelaide, who recently conducted a review of the role of dietary polyphenols (in tea, cinnamon, coffee, chocolate, pomegranate, red wine and olive oil, among others) in regulating glucose homeostasis and insulin sensitivity, published in Nutrients. 2, 3
The Polyphenol Power of Tea
Indeed, the major bioactive compounds in black tea are polyphenols—naturally occurring antioxidants abundant in plant foods (and drinks) that are said to promote health and protect against a range of diseases. 4
Black, green and oolong teas are all made from the plant Camellia Sinensis. Green tea, which is minimally oxidized, contains simple flavonoids called catechins. During the proce
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