FOR some diabetics, a nice cup of tea could be more than just a welcome pick-me-up. The drink also boosts the potency of insulin.
Richard Anderson and colleagues at the US Department of Agriculture studied glucose uptake by isolated fat cells from rats. The set-up mimics glucose storage in the body.
They will report in a future issue of the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry that adding cold tea boosted glucose take-up 15-fold. Anderson says that milk or soy milk limits the effect, and herbal tea does not work at all.
