May also help against cancer and rheumatoid arthritis
White tea contains chemicals that could help slow the appearance of
wrinkles. Now it seems that black tea could play a part in the fight against
diabetes.
Note that by white tea and black tea we are talking about the way in
which the teas have been processed, rather than meaning tea with or without
milk. Black tea is the tea most common in the everyday British cuppa - it has
been processed to increase its strength and shelf life.
Researchers from the Tianjin Key Laboratory in China studied the
polysaccharide levels of green, oolong and black teas and whether they could be
used to treat diabetes. Polysaccharides, a type of carbohydrate that includes
starch and cellulose, may benefit people with diabetes because they help retard
absorption of glucose. They found that of the three types of tea studied black
tea had the most glucose-inhibiting properties. The Polysaccharides in black
tea also had the most effect on free radicals - molecules which are involved in
the onset of diseases such as cancer and rheumatoid arthritis.
"Many efforts have been made to search for effective glucose
inhibitors from natural materials," says lead researcher Haixia Chen.
"There is a potential for exploitation of black tea polysaccharide in
managing diabetes."
The study appeared in the Journal of Food Science.
The Family GP
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