Bags of potential: can tea beat diabetes?
6 March 2008
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Eating a healthy balanced diet and taking regular physical activity can help people with diabetes control
their condition. 
Dr Iain Frame, director of research, Diabetes UK.
Researchers from the University of Dundee in Scotland have uncovered a new potential treatment for type 2 diabetes from an unlikely source - black tea.
While previous studies have suggested health benefits to drinking green tea, less is known about whether black tea, the most popular drink in the world besides water, affects our health.
For their study, lead author Dr Graham Rena and colleagues analysed the well-liked beverage for compounds that mimic insulin - the hormone that helps controls blood sugar levels in the body.
People with type 2 diabetes don't produce enough insulin, or don't respond to it well. This leads to excess levels of sugar in the bloodstream, increasing the risk of a number of serious health problems over time.
Using a cell culture, the researchers found that several compounds in the drink interacted with proteins called FOXOs in the same way that insulin does.
"FOXOs have previously been shown to underlie associations between diet and health in a wide variety of organisms including mice, worms and fruit flies," explained Dr Rena.
"The task now is to see whether we can translate these findings into something useful for human health."
The researchers discovered that compounds called theaflavins and thearabugins in black tea were responsible for mimicking insulin.
Dr Rena stressed that drinking large quantities of black tea was not going to cure diabetes, and that more research is needed. Patients should continue to take any medication prescribed by their doctor, he added.
"However, there is definitely something interesting in the way these naturally occurring components of black tea may have a beneficial effect, both in terms of diabetes and our wider health."
The research is published in the current issue of Aging Cell.
Dr Iain Frame, director of research at leading charity Diabetes UK, told the Bupa health information team:
"These are interesting results but, as the scientists themselves say, more research is needed before any potential benefits of tea are proven."
"We wouldn't recommend people with type 2 diabetes increase their tea intake as a way of treating their condition. However, eating a healthy balanced diet and taking regular physical activity can help people with diabetes control their condition."
Related information
Further information
- Diabetes UK
www.diabetes.org.uk
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