Can drinking black tea fight diabetes: literature review and theoretical indication
Year: 2012
Type: article
Abstract: Obesity and diabetes, called in the past rich men disease, are one of the biggest public health challenges of the 21st century. Obesity, being a gateway to diabetes is a global problem now. Over 300 million people worldwide have diabetes and this number will most likely will rise to 500 million within one generation. Diabetes is at crisis levels; three out of four people with diabetes live in low- and mid- dle-income countries. Many medicaments to treat diabetes are on the market, but these are out of reach for many people living in poverty. These people cannot afford buying insulin and/or other medicaments but they are instead using traditional folk remedies. We have reviewed and evaluated black tea to find out if there is any scientific merit to the claims to alleviate symptoms of diabetes. There are both stud- ies showing anti-diabetic properties of black tea or its ingredients and some that do not. These differ- ences may be related to lack of uniformity in the completed studies rather than absence of anti-diabet- ic activity. Nevertheless, the final conclusion could only be drawn after completion of well controlled clinical studies.
Institution: University of Toledo
Language: English
Topic: Tea Polyphenols and Effects
Subfield: Pathology and Forensic Medicine
Field: Medicine
Domain: Health Sciences
Open Access status: gold
OpenAlex ID: W2182131652