Tea & Coffee Cut Risk of Diabetes; Diabetes UK Remain Sceptical
Drinking three cups of tea or coffee a day cuts risk of age-related diabetes by 23%
Above is a headline taken from todays Daily Mail website. Researchers from the University of Sydney collated data from 15 different studies involving between 300000 and 500000 participants (depending on whether you read the Daily Mail or BBC News) and suggests that drinking 3 or 4 cups a day cuts your risk of developing type 2 diabetes by up to 20%. The report cites two people in the article: Dr Rachel Huxley who lead the investigation and is, therefore, clearly biased towards agreeing with the outcome of the study and Dr Carrie Ruxton, a Nutritionist who is scientific adviser for the Tea Advisory Panel. No need for me to say that she has motives to agree with the study.
Dr Ruxton's quote is frankly laughable. She firstly rehashes what the paper found before suggesting:
This protective effect may be due to the variety of compounds present in tea, including antioxidants
Based on what evidence exactly?
The BBC have gone for a more balanced approach, quoting Dr Victoria King of Diabetes UK who said:
Without full information about what other factors may be influencing the type 2 diabetes risk of the studies' participants - such as their physical activity levels and diet - as well as what the active ingredient in tea or coffee appears to be, we cannot be sure what, if anything, this observed effect is down to.What we can be sure of is that the development of type 2 diabetes is strongly linked to lifestyle, which means that many cases could be prevented by keeping active and eating a healthy balanced diet that is low in fat, salt and sugar with plenty of fruit and vegetables.





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