A large new Chinese scientific study shows that frequent consumption of black or green tea – at least four cups a day – is associated with a 17 percent reduction in the risk of developing type 2 diabetes over the next decade.

The study is a systematic review and meta-analysis of 19 studies from eight countries (China, USA, Japan, UK, Netherlands, France, Finland, Singapore) with data on approximately one million people, led by Xiaoying Liu from Wuhan University of Science and Technology, was presented at the annual conference of the European Association for the Study of Diabetes (EASD) in Stockholm (September 19-23).

A new study has shown that each additional cup a day reduces the risk of developing diabetes by about 1%. Compared to those who drank no tea at all, those who drank one to three cups a day had a 4% lower risk of developing diabetes, and those who drank an average of more than four cups a day had a risk reduction of up to 17%.

Tea is known to be beneficial for health because it contains various antioxidant, anti-inflammatory and anti-cancer substances. The risk reduction applies equally to men and women, as well as green tea (which is not allowed to oxidize too much during processing) and black tea (which oxidizes until it turns black).

“Our results are very encouraging because they show that people can do something as simple as drinking four cups of tea a day to reduce their risk of type 2 diabetes,” Li said.

Source: RES-EMI