New study on tea! The time of day that you drink green tea matters, apparently.
Time-of-day-dependent effects of a green tea extract on postprandial glycemia and insulinemia in healthy adults: a randomized controlled double-blind cross-over intervention
I'll explain the study in a moment, but first let's look at the abstract:
“Glucose homeostasis is intricately associated with circadian rhythms, and disrupting these rhythms, due to mistimed eating, can increase the risk of metabolic dysfunction. Although green tea (poly)phenols are recognized for their potential to lower postprandial glycemia, time-of-day effects of green tea extract incorporated into a starch-based meal remain unexplored. We hypothesized that combining green tea extract with a starch-rich meal could lower postprandial glucose and insulin in both the morning and evening. A four-arm randomized, double-blind, controlled, cross-over intervention was conducted on fourteen healthy adults. Fasted volunteers attended twice in the morning (08:00) and twice in the evening (18:00), consuming either a control (white rice) or test meal (green tea extract-enriched white rice). Blood glucose and insulin concentrations were measured at several time points over 180 minutes, and incremental areas under the curve (iAUC) and peak blood concentrations were calculated. Postprandial glucose levels were higher in the evening compared to the morning, while insulin levels were lower in the evening, regardless of the intervention. The green tea extract meal did not significantly alter the glucose and insulin iAUC compared to the control meal during the morning and evening. Although green tea extract did not affect postprandial glucose concentrations, it significantly decreased peak insulin levels (629 ± 313 pmol L-1, P = 0.04) 30 minutes after the morning meal. Green tea (poly)phenols delay postprandial insulin in the morning but not in the evening, revealing a time-of-day dependent effect on insulin sensitivity.”
What does that mean? That if you take green tea in the morning, it should help keep your cells sensitive to insulin (which means there's less insulin in your blood). That's a good thing, because Type II Diabetes occurs when your cells begin to ignore the orders of insulin and leave sugar floating around in your blood.
So that's that! Hope you enjoyed today's study. I'm a physician with PTSD who sources tea to help your body and mind find REST from stress. You can learn my story at tinglestea.byjenfinelli.com. I source all teas through two organic, humane suppliers directly back to the field through the Ethical Tea Partnership. Then, I taste each tea myself to check the ASMR experience before sharing with you. Because I'm a physician, I carefully research health claims, and give away a portion of proceeds to fight human trafficking. For reading this far, if you want, you can get a free tea type consultation! Just click the link at the top of the tea page. ^_^
