Green Tea and Diabetes

According to the 2011 National Diabetes Fact Sheet (released Jan. 2011), 25.8 million people are diabetes and 79 million people are prediabetes. American Diabetes Association explains in their website, "Before people develop type 2 diabetes, they almost always have 'prediabetes': blood glucose levels that are higher than normal but not yet high enough to be diagnosed as diabetes.  Recent research has shown that some long-term damage to the body, especially the heart and circulatory system may already be occurring during prediabetes."  http://www.diabetes.org 

Green Tea and Blood Sugar Level -1

According to a study done in Japan, people who are diagnosed as "prediabetes" and drank more than 7 cups of green tea improved blood sugar level. This result suggests green tea antioxidants prevents or delays the disease.*

57 million Americans over 20 years old have prediabetes, higher blood sugar level than normal but not high enouth yet to indicate diabetes. Drinking green tea helps to keep blood sugar level under control.

In this study, prediabetic people were tested for their HbA1c to see their blood sugar level change. An HbA1c of 6% or less is normal, over 6.1% is prediabetes, and over 6.5% is diabetes. The patients' HbA1c was 6.2%, prediabetes. They were divided in 2 groups. One group was given 7 cups of green tea a day, and the other was not. After 2 months, the HbA1c of the patients given green tea was improved to 5.9%, whereas the other group's HbA1c didn't change. Then, the other group was given green tea for the next 2 months. The group's HbA1c also improved to 5.9%.

Studies have shown green tea prevents diabetes and this study suggests green tea actually controls blood sugar level that is already high.

Resource: "Significance of nutrients and green tea intake to prevent lifestyle-related diseases in some communities in Shizuoka" Yoko Fukino, University of Shizuoka, Japan

*Note: The "cups" of green tea in the study were "brewed" tea. Click here to find the significant nutritional advantages of Edible Green® over brewed tea.

Green Tea and Blood Sugar Level -2