Diabetes risk 'lowered by drinking certain number of cups of tea a day'

dailyrecord.co.uk:

Drinking at least four cups of tea a day could cut chances of developing type 2 diabetes, according to new research. A study, presented at the European Association for the Study of Diabetes annual meeting in Stockholm, found that certain brews and how much they are drunk contribute to reducing the risk of the life-long condition.Research found that drinking black, green, or oolong tea every day was linked to a 17% lower risk of diabetes over an average of 10 years.

Drinking between one and three cups a day cut the risk by 4%.The findings are based on a review of 19 studies involving more than one million people.

They have neither been published nor peer-reviewed as of yet.Lead author Xiaying Li, from Wuhan University of Science and Technology in China, said: “Our results are exciting because they suggest that people can do something as simple as drinking four cups of tea a day to potentially lessen their risk of developing type 2 diabetes.”Previous research has found that tea could be beneficial for health, partly because it contains antioxidants and polyphenols, which may protect against disease.However, to reduce the risk of type 2 diabetes, experts agree that people should primarily keep their weight in check.Obesity is a major driver of type 2 diabetes, accounting for 80 to 85% of the risk of developing the condition.Obese people are thought to be up to 80 times more likely to develop type 2 diabetes than those with a body mass index of under 22.In the new study in China, researchers first looked at data from 5,199 adults in the China Health and Nutrition Survey who did not have diabetes, who were recruited in 1997 and followed until 2009.People filled in a food and drink frequency questionnaire and provided