Chamomile tea and diabetes

Both true teas and herbal teas have been associated with a variety of health benefits due to the powerful plant compounds that they contain.

Diabetes is a chronic disease that occurs either when the pancreas does not produce enough insulin or when the body cannot effectively use the insulin it produces. It is a metabolic disease that causes high blood sugar.

Insulin is a hormone made by the pancreas, helps glucose from food get into human body cells to be used for energy.

In 2014, 8.5% of adults aged 18 years and older had diabetes. In 2019, diabetes was the direct cause of 1.5 million deaths and 48% of all deaths due to diabetes occurred before the age of 70 years.

Chamomile is an aromatic European plant of the daisy family. Chamomile tea that is rich in polyphenols, flavonoids, and other antioxidant and anti-inflammatory chemicals has been used to treat inflammation, skin diseases, wounds, gout, and ulcers. Recent research shows that chamomile plant extract suppresses the growth of human cancer cells. It could also help manage diabetes.

Chamomile tea appears to have positive effects on glycemic control and hyperlipidemia, based on the human clinical trials.

A study in 64 people with diabetes found that participants who drank 150 mL of chamomile tea made with 3 grams of chamomile 3 times per day after meals for 8 weeks experienced significant reductions in HbA1c and insulin levels, compared with a control group (Nutrition. 2016 Jan;32(1):66-72).
Chamomile tea and diabetes

Cinnamon tea and diabetes

Many traditional plants and spices possess medicinal properties, such as control blood glucose levels. Cinnamon is one of these spices that has been demonstrated to be effective in improving glycaemia both in healthy and diabetic subjects. Cinnamon has a long history both as a spice and as a medicine. It's available in its dried tubular form known as a quill or as ground powder.

Scientists have discovered that cinnamon has insulin-like properties, which able to decrease blood glucose levels as well as triglycerides and cholesterol, all of which are important especially for type 2 diabetes patients. Many other beneficial effects of cinnamon such as anti-inflammation properties control of blood glucose, decreasing heart disease and decreasing cancer.

Study published in Journal of Diabetes Research July 2015 suggest that the use of cinnamon tea can be beneficial to postprandial glucose levels; moreover, its high phenolic content and antioxidant activity could also act beneficially.

In type 2 diabetic subjects, cinnamon revealed that it can exert a hypoglycaemic effect, decreasing PBG (Postprandial glucose level) and fasting blood glucose level.

Research during the investigation of cinnamon compounds, has shown that cinnamon contains some components which can enhance insulin secretion. (Horm Res 50(3): 177-182)
Cinnamon tea and diabetes

Green tea is good for diabetics

In comparison to black tea and oolong tea, green tea (GT) contains greater quantities of cate-chins, which are strong antioxidants in vitro and in vivo. The presence of high amount of polyphenols in green tea makes it very important in the prevention of different diseases.

Green tea extract has many naturally occurring biological components of which polyphenolic epicatechins (ECs) are predominantly active. These include (–)-epigallocatechin-3-gallate (EGCG), (–)-epigallocatechin (EGC), (–)-epicatechin-3-gallate (ECG), and (–)-EC. The EC and EGC are catechol catechins, EGC and EGCG are pyrogallol catechins, and ECG and EGCG are gallate catechins.

So far green tea was shown to have many impacts in carbohydrate metabolism. Epidemiologic studies have shown that the consumption of green tea may reduce bodyweight and fat accumulation by improving glucose and lipid metabolism, and it has also been shown that green tea extract and EGCG ameliorate hyperglycemia and insulin resistance in humans and animals.

Green tea is considered as an alternative medicine for diabetes mellitus. The pathology of diabetes mellitus is caused by reactive oxygen species that activate the non-enzymatic glycation of proteins (leads to structural and functional changes), the aldose reductase pathway (causes sorbitol accumulation) and oxidative stress (results in protein, DNA and lipid damage).

Polyphenols in green tea reduce carbohydrate digestion and absorption in the intestine by inhibiting carbohydrate digesting enzymes and inhibiting glucose transporters across the intestine.

The anti-oxidant effect of green tea is because of its polyphenol cathechine components to scavenge ROS. Catechins from tea suppress the absorption of glucose from the small intestine by inhibiting α-glucosidase activity.

They are also shown to increase secretion of insulin by pancreatic β cells and protect cytokine induced inflammatory damage of these cells. Increasing insulin activity and maintaining glucose homeostasis are other mechanisms by which green tea is involved in carbohydrate metabolism.

Green tea is good for diabetics