Chinese Green Tea.

Tea and coffee intake has been long studied for antioxidant property; this article says about its protective effect on diabetes, and the possible mode of action.

clipped from www.medpagetoday.com Tea, Coffee Seem to Protect Against Diabetes Drinking lots of coffee and tea every day -- even decaf -- might keep diabetes away, new research shows. The researchers found a significant inverse relationship between coffee consumption and subsequent risk of diabetes. Each additional cup of coffee consumed in a day was associated with a 7% reduction in the excess risk of diabetes (95% CI 0.91 to 0.95, P<0.001). The findings suggest that the protective effects of tea and coffee may not be solely related to the effects of caffeine, but rather involve a broader range of chemical constituents including magnesium, lignans, and chlorogenic acids, the researchers wrote. Tea catechins, for example, may decrease glucose production in the gastrointestinal system, leading to lower levels of glucose and insulin, and green tea in particular may prevent damage to pancreatic beta cells.

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