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Thee tegen diabetes en staar.*
Uit dierenstudies blijkt dat thee, zowel groene als gewone,
na een testperiode van 3 maanden de suikerwaarden in het bloed duidelijk doen
dalen en de ontwikkeling van staar significant doet afnemen. Voor de mens
vergelijkbare hoeveelheden zijn 4 koppen per dag.
Tea May Help Prevent Diabetes
And Cataracts
Add another line to the list
of benefits from drinking tea: New research in animals suggests that tea may be
a simple, inexpensive means of preventing diabetes and its ensuing
complications, including cataracts. The report, scheduled to appear in the May 4
print issue of the American Chemical Society's Journal of Agricultural and
Food Chemistry, was published on the journal's Web site. ACS is the world's
largest scientific society.
Researchers fed green and
black tea to diabetic rats for three months and then monitored the chemical
composition of the rats' blood and eye lenses. At levels that would be
equivalent to less than five cups of tea per day for a human, both teas
significantly inhibited cataract formation relative to a control group which did
not get tea, they say. The researchers found that both teas decreased glucose
levels, which in turn affects other biochemical pathways that accelerate
diabetic complications such as cataracts.
"Most people, scientists
included, believe that green tea has more health benefits than black tea,"
says Joe Vinson, Ph.D., a chemist at the University of Scranton (Penn.) and lead
author of the paper. In combination with Vinson's earlier research showing that
green tea and black tea equally inhibit atherosclerosis -- a major risk factor
for heart disease -- the findings suggest that both drinks could play a part in
curbing two of the most widespread maladies in the United States today.
The American Chemical Society
is a nonprofit organization, chartered by the U.S. Congress, with a
multidisciplinary membership of more than 158,000 chemists and chemical
engineers. It publishes numerous scientific journals and databases, convenes
major research conferences and provides educational, science policy and career
programs in chemistry. Its main offices are in Washington, D.C., and Columbus,
Ohio. (Mei 2005)