Green Tea – Does it really Work in Lowering Blood Sugar Naturally?
October 30, 2009 by admin
Filed under Diabetic Remedies
A lot of individuals all over the world are afflicted with diabetes. Because this is so, many are looking for ways in order to lower blood sugar levels in the body. Although conventional medicine has the answer to this, one may also look up to Nature for remedies lower blood sugar.
One of the more believed remedies lower blood sugar is to drink green tea. Green tea is highly consumed in Asian countries and is now becoming popular in Western countries. It is known to give a lot of health benefits, and is considered to be an antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, anticarcinogenic, and antimutagenic.
Lately, it is also believed to treat diabetes type 2. So is green tea really one of those remedies lower blood sugar? Studies have been conducted and results show that green tea indeed helps in lowering blood sugar levels. However, this is noted only in diabetes type 2 cases. The catechins present in green tea also stimulate insulin production, which helps body cells to use up glucose. This is very beneficial because this means your body is naturally producing insulin to help in the cells’ absorption of glucose, which lowers blood sugar level. This is effective for both diabetes type 1 and diabetes type 2.
Aside from that, green tea also suppresses the uptake of blood sugar by the intestine. Normally, blood sugar is transferred from the intestine and into the bloodstream. The polyphenols found in green tea (epigallocatechin, epicatechin, catechin) are responsible for significantly slowing down the glucose absorption. This helps reduce the amount of blood sugar in the bloodstream.
All these help contribute in lowering your blood sugar, which makes green tea really effective. Adding it into your diet won’t hurt, and could instead help you significantly lower blood sugar the natural way. You can find supplements containing green tea extracts, or take it in its traditional form. There are also flavored green tea drinks that come in bottles and are ready-to-drink.
So if you are looking for natural remedies lower blood sugar, consider drinking green tea. Of course, it is best to ask advice from your doctors first to make sure it will not interfere with your current treatment plan.
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Green tea does control blood glucose in Type I diabetes.
Usually, many of the oral medicines like the pills are
active within the period an isulin shot is still active. For
example if I am self administering insulin plain (insulin
actrapid) which has a peaking time of 3hrs and active for 6h
the hypoglycemics are active upto 3hrs only and the activity
declines after 3h.
My experience with green tea is that from 3 to 6 hrs the blood
glucose levels do not decline . But green tea taken well beyond the
5th hour , the decline in blood glucose is quite very saignificant.
Bg , 199 mg per decileter ,5h30 min after the last insulin shot (15units following a meal of restricted quantity of carbohydrate) was 199mg per dl.
Following the intake of greentea ( 1 cup, infusion prepared in the normal manner) declined to 140mg/dl ,3hrs after the intake of green tea. The decline of about 55mg/dl in 21hrs amounts to 39 mg.dl per hour. This is a demonstration of the ability green tea to independantly ( of insulin). I would invite my fellow type I diabetics to give a trial to green tea , a bit scientifically. Try the drink well beyond the period of insulin activity with
blood glucose at 200 mg per dl. Check the bg dtop after 2-3 hrs.
This is regarding the statement in this webpage that green tea lowers
bloodglucose levels in daibetes 2 only.that too. It is stated that it stimulates insulin production . This is precicesly how the oral antidiabetic medicines act. One more activity of green tea mentioned in this article is that the catechins in green tea slow down the absorbance by the intestinal walls of glucose for transfer to the blood stream.
There is no reference in the literature on the application of green tea to Diabetes type 1 independently of insulin.
I have an observation to make here.
I am a type 1 diabetes patient and have been trying herbal medicines for supplementing insulin injections. Many herbal medicinals like turmeric, have been tried by me but none of them except two, gymnema sylvestres and green tea
Which did not requoire to be backed by insulin injection.
I have found that the brew of green tea consumed many hours after the last insulin shot ( insulin plain,actrapid, onset 1/2 hr after the injection ,peaking at 3h and duration of total 6h) green tea brew ,made as per convention ,could bring down blodd glucose of 199 mg /dl to 140 in 2 hrs. It could have been more upto one more hour.
I would request corrobortion from fellow Type 1 diabetics.
About mywelf:
Retired Scientist, DRDO Government of India.
Have been suffering from Diabet4s type 1 for the past many years.