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one of the world's most popular drinks may help prevent diabetes

drinking four or more cups of tea a day may have significant benefits, according to a new study.

by dave yasvinski

sep 20 2022
read time 3 minute read
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can drinking tea help prevent diabetes?
researchers found tea may reduce the risk of diabetes. getty
one of the most popular drinks in the world may hold the answer to halting type 2 diabetes (t2d) — but only in high quantities.

according to a systemic review and analysis of 19 cohort studies, encompassing eight countries and more than one million adults, consuming at least four cups of black, green or oolong tea a day is linked to a 17 per cent lower risk of developing diabetes over the next 10 years. the findings will be presented at the annual meeting of the european association for the study of diabetes (easd) in sweden this week.

“our results are exciting because they suggest that people can do something as simple as drinking four cups of tea a day to potentially lessen their risk of developing type 2 diabetes,” said xiaying li , lead author of the study from wuhan university of science and technology in china.

roughly 2.3 million canadians reported a diabetes diagnosis as of 2017, according to statistics canada, with type 2 diabetes accounting for 90 to 95 per cent of cases. the metabolic disease occurs when the body does not produce enough insulin or is unable to properly process the insulin it does produce. in addition to increasing the risk of conditions such as heart disease, stroke and kidney disease, diabetes can also reduce quality of life through the burden of the daily management of symptoms.

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although the antioxidant, anti-inflammatory and anticarcinogenic properties of tea have long made it a beverage of choice, the connection between its consumption and a diabetes diagnosis has been largely obscured by inconsistent findings. in an attempt to clear up the confusion, researchers conducted a cohort study and a dose-response meta-analysis into the relationship.
first, the team studied 5,199 adults (average age 42) with no history of diabetes who were part of the china health and nutrition survey (chns) that began in 1997. at the outset of this survey, participants were required to complete a food and drink frequency questionnaire that included information on exercise, smoking and other lifestyle factors. from the pool, 2,379 people (or 46 per cent) reported drinking tea and, by the end of the study, 522 (10 per cent) developed t2d.
after adjusting for other factors linked to diabetes, such as age, sex and inactivity, the team found that tea drinkers and non-tea drinkers faced a similar risk of t2d.
next, researchers performed a systemic review of all cohort studies pertaining to tea drinking and t2d risk up to late 2021. after analyzing a number of factors — including different types of tea, frequency of consumption, sex and the location of the study — they found a linear association between consumption of tea and t2d risk whereby each cup of tea per day reduced the risk of a diabetes diagnosis by around one per cent.
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compared to those who did not consume tea, those who drank one to three cups a day lowered their risk of diabetes by four per cent. those who drank four or more cups a day decreased their risk by 17 per cent. these associations, which were evident regardless of sex or location, suggest the biggest factor mitigating the risk of diabetes is the quantity of tea consumed.
“while more research needs to be done to determine the exact dosage and mechanisms behind these observations, our findings suggest that drinking tea is beneficial in reducing the risk of type 2 diabetes, but only at high doses (at least 4 cups a day)” li said.
“it is possible that particular components in tea, such as polyphenols, may reduce blood glucose levels but a sufficient amount of these bioactive compounds may be needed to be effective. it may also explain why we did not find an association between tea drinking and type 2 diabetes in our cohort study, because we did not look at higher tea consumption.”
because of the observational nature of the study, researchers cannot prove that tea drinking reduces the risk of diabetes — only that it is likely to contribute to risk reduction. other limitations of the study include a reliance on subjective assessments of quantity of tea consumed and the fact that researchers were unable to rule out the possibility that residual confounding by other lifestyle or physiological factors may have influenced the results.

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dave yasvinski is a writer with  healthing.ca

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