African Black Beauty

May lower blood sugar levels

Elevated blood sugar levels may increase your risk of health complications, such as type 2 diabetes, obesity, cardiovascular disease, kidney failure, and depression (24Trusted Source, 25Trusted Source).

Consuming large amounts of sugar, particularly from sweetened beverages, has been shown to increase blood sugar values and the risk of type 2 diabetes (26Trusted Source).

When you consume sugar, the pancreas secretes a hormone called insulin. Insulin allows the sugar to enter cells, including muscle and liver cells, to be stored as energy, or glycogen. When the body need to use energy, a different hormone, glucagon, is released to help the body break down glycogen to release energy. If you consume more sugar than your body has space to store a glycogen, then the excess sugar gets stored as fat.

Research suggests drinking black tea may help lower your blood sugar following a meal or snack, also known as postprandial glucose.

One small, well-designed study looked at the effect of drinking black tea on blood sugar levels following consumption of a high-sugar beverage.

Twenty-four people, both with and without pre-diabetes, consumed a high-sugar beverage along with either a low- or high-dose of black tea or a placebo. Those who drank the low- or high-dose of black tea had significantly lower postprandial (after eating) blood sugar compared to those who drank a placebo (27Trusted Source).

Other studies suggest black tea may help enhance the use of insulin in the body.

A small study looked at the effects of consuming black tea on insulin response in men with obesity and insulin resistance.

Participants consumed 75g of glucose combined with either 100ml black tea, beetroot juice, or water. Those who consumed the black tea along with the glucose had about 29% lower insulin response compared to those who drank water (28Trusted Source).

This suggests that drinking black tea may help improve insulin sensitivity, especially following a high-sugar meal or snack.

If you are buying black tea, especially pre-made tea, it’s important to check the packaging label. Some brands of pre-made black tea are sweetened with added sugars like sucrose or high fructose corn syrup. You can look for pre-made tea that is labeled as non-sweetened.

May help reduce the risk of cancer

Over 100 different types of cancer exist, and some are not preventable.

Nevertheless, the polyphenols found in black tea may help slow the development of certain types of cancer and promote cancer cell death (29Trusted Source).

One rigorous review of studies looking at the effects of tea on cancer risk concluded that drinking tea is associated with a lower risk of oral cancer (30Trusted Source).

The authors state that tea may also be associated with a lower risk of other types of cancers as well, including cancers of the gastrointestinal tract, breasts, ovaries, lungs, and thyroid, but more well-designed studies are needed to know for sure.

Another review of studies looked at the effect of drinking green and black tea on the risk of endometrial cancer.

The study found that those drinking the highest amounts of green tea had a 22% reduced risk of endometrial cancer. Further, every increase in one cup of green tea per day was associated with an 11% reduced risk of developing endometrial cancer (31Trusted Source).

However, no significant association was found between consumption of black tea and endometrial cancer risk.

Although black tea should not be considered an alternative treatment for cancer, some research has demonstrated black tea’s potential to help reduce the risk of certain types of cancers.

More research in humans is needed to more clearly determine the link between black tea and cancer cells.