Green tea is good for health. Evidences has shown its several health benefits - helps in loosing weight, boosts exercise endurance, reduces the risk of heart attack, fights against various cancers, hydration benefits, protection from harmful ultraviolet rays, keeps Diabetes in check, prevention and treatment of neurological diseases, anti- Ageing benefits, boosts immunity.
In order to ascertain whether green tea truly has the potential to control weight and helps in regulating glucose in type 2 diabetes, Jae-Hyung Park and his colleagues from the Keimyung University School of Medicine in the Republic of Korea conducted a study, now published in the Springer journal Naunyn-Schmedeberg's Archives of Pharmacology.
The active constituents of green tea, which have been shown to inhibit intestinal glucose and lipid uptake, are a certain type of flavonoid called gallated catechins. Previously it was suggested that the amount of gallated catechins necessary to reduce blood glucose concentrations can be achieved from a daily dose of green tea. However, the amount of green tea needed to decrease lipid uptake from the gut is higher and has been shown to have adverse effects in humans. Once in the bloodstream, gallated catechins can actually increase insulin resistance, which is a negative consequence especially in obese and diabetic patients.
To prevent a high dose of gallated catechins from reaching the bloodstream, researchers used a non-toxic resin, polyethylene glycol, to bind the gallated catechins in the gut to prevent their absorption.
For their study they tested the effects of green tea extract on body weight and glucose intolerance in both diabetic mice and normal mice fed a high-fat diet. they fed mice one mice with green tea extract only and another with green tea extract and polyethylene glycol. They compared these against the effects of two other therapeutic drugs routinely prescribed for type 2 diabetes.
Results showed that green tea extract alone did not give any improvements in body weight and glucose intolerance but with addition of polyethylene glycol, there was a significant reduction in body weight gain, insulin resistance and glucose intolerance in both normal mice on a high fat diet and diabetic mice.
Interestingly, the effects of the green tea extract in both the intestines and in the circulation were measurable at doses which could be achieved by drinking green tea on a daily basis. In addition, the effects of green tea extract were comparable to those found when taking two of the drugs which are currently recommended for non-insulin dependent diabetes.
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