Green tea has long been considered the world’s most healthy hot beverage. However, new research is emerging that suggests black tea may be an effective tool in the management and prevention of diabetes. Nevertheless, consumers remain in the dark, believing that only green tea has health benefits.

Diabetes on the Rise
According to the International Diabetes Federation (IDF), more than 366 million people worldwide suffer from diabetes, and by 2030, the number is forecast to reach 552 million; around 90% of cases are accounted for by type 2 diabetes. Type 2 diabetes compromises the body’s ability to produce insulin, leading to progressive damage of the body’s tissues, including the cardiovascular system. There is no cure for diabetes, but it is a disease that can be prevented as well as controlled. Dietary factors play a significant role in fuelling an ongoing search for foods and beverages that may prove useful in this respect.

Green Tea Panacea
One such potential anti-diabetic product is tea. Green tea already has a reputation among health conscious consumers for acting as a slimming aid, fighting cardiovascular disease, enhancing memory and even promoting beauty. This has now further developed to include diabetes. In November 2012, Penn State University issued a press release reporting on an animal study its researchers had carried out, which indicated that green tea, if consumed as part of a high carbohydrate meal, might prevent a spike in blood sugar—which is a common (and damaging) consequence of a meal high in refined starches when consumed by somebody afflicted with diabetes.

Black Tea Gains Credibility as a Healthy Beverage
It is not only green tea, however, that is moving into the spotlight as a diabetes fighter. Anti-diabetic effects may be derived from various types of drinks based on the leaves of the camellia sinensis (tea) plant, including black tea.

In May 2012, a paper was published on PloS One, investigating the impact of tea drinking on diabetes. The study, involving a cohort of 340,234 people across eight European countries, concluded that the risk of developing type 2 diabetes was 16% lower in people who drank at least four cups of tea a day compared to non-tea drinkers. Although the study did not draw a distinction between specific types of tea imbibed, the researchers conceded that the tea consumed by the study population was predominantly black tea. This is a reasonable assumption—Euromonitor International data show that black tea accounted for 80% of tea retail volume sales in Western Europe in 2011, and green tea for just 3%. In Eastern Europe, the shares were 77% and 11%, respectively.

In November 2012, another study, published in the British Medical Journal, added further weight to the existence of an inverse relationship between black tea consumption and diabetes. The study found a “linear statistical correlation between high black tea consumption and low diabetes prevalence.” The researchers acknowledged, however, this does not prove a conclusive cause-effect relationship. To establish causality, further epidemiological research and, above all, randomized controlled studies are required.

Consumers Need to Be Told All Tea is Healthy
Research is still preliminary, but it seems tea may well be effective against diabetes, a great burden on global public health budgets. According to the IDF, global healthcare expenditure owing to diabetes in adults amounted to at least $465 billion dollars in 2011.

Prevention and management of diabetes involves a variety of factors, which if this recent research is anything to go by, may also include consumption of tea. At present, the overarching public perception is that only green tea is healthy, while black tea is either “neutral” or even regarded as unhealthy. Black tea is, however, far more popular than green tea, with black tea outselling green in every geographic region. Even in Asia-Pacific, retail volume sales of black tea are almost double those of green tea. Tea manufacturers therefore, besides investing in more research, may also want to consider spreading the message that “as long as it’s tea, it’s good for you.”

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The ideas and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect views held by Nutraceuticals World.