Contents:
- Medical Video: How to Treat and Bring Down High Blood Sugar Levels
- How can coffee and tea help reduce blood sugar in people with diabetes?
- Still need to be developed again
- Drinking coffee and tea also has a limit
Medical Video: How to Treat and Bring Down High Blood Sugar Levels
For most people, drinking a cup of coffee and warm tea before leaving for activity is a ritual starting a day that cannot be contested. But unexpectedly, your favorite warm drink is believed to be able to keep blood sugar levels stable. A group of researchers from ETH Zurich in Switzerland reported that various active compounds in these two drinks can help lower blood sugar, especially for people with type 2 diabetes.
In type 2 diabetes, the body has enough insulin but is unable to use it properly as an energy source. As a result, blood sugar will accumulate in the body. That's why people with diabetes need to properly regulate their blood sugar. In addition to using drugs, the schedule, amount, and type of food must always be considered. Then, what is the role of coffee and tea to help diabetics maintain their blood sugar levels? Come on, find out more!
How can coffee and tea help reduce blood sugar in people with diabetes?
Researchers found that the caffeine content in coffee and tea can help people with type 2 diabetes to lower their blood sugar. However, the benefits of regulating blood sugar levels cannot be achieved simply by drinking a cup of coffee or tea. In order for your favorite coffee or tea to help reduce blood sugar, the body needs to be helped by the presence of a special receptor. Because the caffeine here only acts as an activator, aka the gene trigger agent. How are you still confused?
To get the benefits of caffeine, the research team from ETH Zurich had previously designed an artificial gene receptor that specifically responded to the effects of caffeine in the body. Receptors are proteins that are on the cell surface and will only react when they meet certain molecules, like a door that can open with the right key. Because the nature of the synthetic receptors only reacts to caffeine, the researchers named it "caffeine-stimulated advanced regulator" (C-STAR).
Researchers report that lab rats with type 2 diabetes showed improved immune systems to regulate blood sugar that were much better after being injected with artificial cells containing C-STAR and drinking caffeinated coffee, compared with mice not injected with C-STAR.
This is because after entering the bloodstream, caffeine will bind to the C-STAR receptor and activate the production of synthetic human glucagon-like peptide 1 in body cells. This compound is the same compound used in diabetes medicines to reduce blood sugar.
Still need to be developed again
The research above is still limited to testing cell cultures in the laboratory and in lab rats that are still in the prediabetes phase. Need more other broader studies to be able to ascertain the role of caffeine in the effects of regulating blood sugar levels in diabetic patients
Now experts are continuing to test C-STAR responses to various types of cells. The researchers also still need trials with different caffeine doses, and different types of caffeinated drinks.
Given these findings, researchers hope that in the future diabetes treatment will allow the installation of artificial circuit genes in cells. Plus improvements to a better lifestyle, diabetics can regulate their blood sugar levels with more practical things such as drinking coffee or tea containing caffeine.
Drinking coffee and tea also has a limit
Drinking coffee and tea saves many health benefits. One of them that is being developed is the effect of reducing blood sugar, as described above.
Even so, you should not be complacent with the lure of these benefits so that you overdo coffee in a day. Quoting the NPR page, a study published by Mayo Clinic Proceedings shows that regular drinking two-three cups of coffee per day is still relatively reasonable and has the potential to bring benefits.
Not only the number of portions you need to consider, but also what you add to your drink cup. Coffee and tea are no longer a healthy drink if spiked with spoons of cream, sugar, syrup, and whip cream. The risk of increasing blood sugar from additional sweeteners will clearly defeat the value of benefits for your condition.
