Tuesday Dec 2, 2014 (foodconsumer.org) -- A new study in Iranian Journal of Medical Sciences suggests that drinking green tea or sour tea may help people with type 2 diabetes mellitus probably because of their antioxidative properties.

The study led by researchers at Shahid Sadoughi University of Medical Sciences in Yazd, Iran shows that people with type 2 diabetes mellitus who drunk 150 ml of green tea infusion or sour tea infusion three times a day for four weeks significantly lowered the fast blood insulin levels.

For the study, 100 type 2 diabetes mellitus patients were randomly assigned to drink sour tea or green in a dose of 150 ml per time, three times per day for four weeks. A number of metabolic parameters were measured including fasting blood sugar (FBS), fructosamine, lipid profiles, fasting blood insulin (FBI), HOMA-IR, bet-cell function(b%), insulin sensitivity (S%) and malondialdehyde (MDA).

High density lipoprotein cholesterol increased in both the sour tea group and the green tea group.  Fasting blood insulin decreased in the group drinking green tea and increased in the group drinking sour tea.  Type 2 diabetes mellitus patients who drank green tea experienced a greater decrease in HOMA-IR, compared to the sour tea group.

The study concluded "the use of 150 ml infusion of green tea or sour tea, three times a day for four weeks, has positive effect on insulin resistance and certain lipoproteins in type 2 DM (diabetes mellitus)". (David Liu, PHD)

Hassan Mozaffari-Khosravi, PhD, Zeinab Ahadi, MS, and Marziyeh Fallah Tafti, MD  The Effect of Green Tea versus Sour Tea on Insulin Resistance, Lipids Profiles and Oxidative Stress in Patients with Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus: A Randomized Clinical Trial  Iran J Med Sci. Sep 2014; 39(5): 424–432.