New Study Links Common Drink to Lower Diabetes Risk

We all know the simple steps in lowering our risk of developing type 2 diabetes like regular exercise and watching our diet. Now, it might be time to add a new drink to your morning routine to help keep your blood sugar in check.

A new study from researchers at the University of Adelaide in Australia and Southeast University in China found that daily consumers of dark tea had a 53-percent lower risk for prediabetes and 47-percent lower risk for type 2 diabetes. To reach this conclusion, the scientists examined 436 people in China living with diabetes, 352 with prediabetes, and 1,135 with normal glucose levels and looked at the association between both the frequency and type of tea consumption and excretion of glucose in the urine, insulin resistance, and their glycemic status.

"The substantial health benefits of tea, including a reduced risk of cardiovascular disease and type 2 diabetes, have been reported in several studies over recent years, but the mechanisms underlying these benefits have been unclear," study co-lead author Tongzhi Wu said of the team's intention with the study. What they found pointed to a noticeable trend.

"Our findings hint at the protective effects of habitual tea drinking on blood sugar management via increased glucose excretion in urine, improved insulin resistance and thus better control of blood sugar. These benefits were most pronounced among daily dark tea drinkers," Wu explained.

Still, the results suggest that the connection between dark tea and lower diabetes risk is a correlation rather than causation. To reach firmer answers and validate their findings, the researchers are currently conducting a double-blind, randomized trial to investigate the benefits of dark tea on blood glucose control in people living with type 2 diabetes.

In the meantime, fire up the kettle and pour up a cup of Earl Grey.