When next you've got the chance to try black tea - Forget the five thousand years of use in Asia and consider instead about the multiple health benefits that Black Tea could bring to your body, which include lower blood sugar levels.
You've most likely heard about how black tea improves protection and heart health, now studies appearing in the June 30, 2009 issue of the book of Food Science, adds diabetes treatment to the list of infirmities where a cup of dark tea ( without milk or sugar ) may be just what you want.
The up to date research out of Tianjin university in China discovered that black tea does contain a compound that works just like oral medicines Precose and Glyset - prescribed drugs currently used to manipulate blood sugar levels for patients with type 2 diabetes.
The natural polysaccharide compound in black tea is at levels greater than in either green or oolong tea.
Haixia Chen and colleagues report the polysaccharides found in black tea limit the activity of an enzyme known as alpha-glucosidase that transforms starches to sugar.
This is the way the pharmaceuticals work also.
Research has proven for some time that polysaccharides might be of value to those with diabetes because they help to stop the absorption of sugar. According to the team, the black spread or tea was also discovered to possess the best scavenging effect on free radicals, those worrying substances assumed by many to be concerned in the development of cancer and other illnesses.
So are you able to drink black tea in the place of an oral diabetic medication?
No - Never make a change without speaking with your own doctor.
Chen's team must not say for certain that just drinking the tea would be enough. The research used chemical extraction systems, not the brewing as you may at home, to get the polysaccharides from the teas they'd purchased at local markets.
Traditional teas come from exactly the same plant. It's actually the amount of processing that makes the difference in the color, the black having oxidized ( interacted with oxygen until the leaves darkened ) as it is going through all the steps in the tea making process. Conventional processing of the black variety is not anything like fermenting, there isn't any yeast concerned, just the tea leaves and oxygen.
It is important to know that due to the way black tea is processed, it does have a far higher caffeine content than the other teas - green, white or oolong. One cup of black tea has about fifty mg of caffeine when compared to coffee, which has from sixty five to 175 milligrams of caffeine per cup.
Actually, in many parts of the planet tea, not coffee is used as the wake-me-up at the start of the day.
You can purchase teas at most grocery stores, or try the organic types from online ( or local ) natural health food stores.
Black varieties can be packed as a single tea or as a part of a mix - you'll be amazed at the various selections. You'll be wanting to try several brands to find the flavour and depth of color you like best, and be sure to brew the leaves lose in a pleasant, pot-bellied teapot so they can unfurl all the way to make a drink that is's powerful and delicious, and highly likely good for you too!
The black tea benefits are actually inspiring, and with this research we could be close to another breakthrough for regulating blood sugar levels.
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