15/04/2015
A herbal tea that contains a combination of blueberry fruit and leaves, raspberry, spearmint leaves and cinnamon, could become the next treatment for insulin dependant diabetics. It’s effects and mechanisms of action are being studied by researchers at the Menzies Institute in Hobart.
Diabetes is the fastest growing chronic disease in the world, and with a population of just over 500,000 people, Tasmania has almost one fifth of its residents living with or at risk of diabetes.
By 2025 it is estimated three million Australians will have the disease and most would have type 2 diabetes. There is no cure.
Senior Research Fellow Michelle Keske is trying to find out if the tea could reduce diabetics’ reliance on insulin.
She said type 2 diabetes was a very complicated disease to treat, but added pre-clinical trials had been positive.
“The tea has enabled that hormone, insulin, to improve glucose uptake into muscle and by doing that it lowers blood glucose levels and it does that by stimulating blood flow,” she said.
She said it was hard to find treatments that stimulated blood flow but said the blueberry tea looked promising.
It contains a number of polyphenols and flavinoids that she thinks helps stimulate blood flow.
“Because the tea is a complex mixture of a number of plant products, we don’t know if it’s one compound or the combination that seems to make it work,” Dr Keske said.
Human trials are scheduled to begin this year.
Click here to read the story as reported by the ABC in Australia
