In an age of pharmaceuticals we tend to forget that there are things like herbal teas that can help lower blood sugar in a more natural way.
Herbal teas are gaining popularity and this could be due to the infusion of Western and Eastern Medicine techniques being blended together more often.
Herbal teas are also caffeine free. New studies suggest that caffeine makes it hard for people with diabetes to control their blood sugar.
In the latest of these studies, Duke University researcher James D. Lane, PhD, and colleagues put continuous blood-sugar monitors on 10 people with type 2 diabetes. All were regular coffee drinkers averaging four cups a day, but they stopped drinking coffee during the experiment.
On one day, each patient took a 250 mg caffeine capsule at breakfast and another 250 mg caffeine capsule at lunch. That’s roughly the same as having them drink two cups of coffee at each meal. On another day, the same people got placebo pills with no caffeine in them.
The result: On the days the patients took caffeine, their blood-sugar levels were 8% higher. And after every meal — including dinner — their blood sugar spiked higher than it did on the day they had no caffeine.
“These are clinically significant blood-sugar elevations due to caffeine,” said Lane. “Caffeine increases blood glucose by as much as oral diabetes medications decrease it. … It seems the detrimental effects of caffeine are as bad as the beneficial effects of oral diabetes drugs are good.”
Caffeine can also cause insomnia, nervousness, restlessness, irritability, stomach upset, fast/irregular heartbeat (SVT: Heart arrhythmias, heart palpitations) and muscle tremors.
So what type of herbs are in herbal teas to help lower blood sugar? There are a few but below are the two most popularly utilized herbal teas to help lower blood sugar.
Bilberry tea – The reason why Bilberry tea is so effective in lowering blood sugar levels is because it contains something called glucoquinine which is a compound known for its ability to lower blood glucose levels.Another reason why Bilberry tea is such a good herbal tea for those with type 2 diabetes is because Bilberry is often used to treat eye issues such as diabetic neuropathy.
Sage Tea – There are many medicinal uses for Sage tea and one of them happens to be it’s positive effect on how your body uses insulin.\r\n\r\nStudies have shown that Sage has the ability to boost insulin activity in diabetics. Those with type 2 diabetes found Sage to be the most effective. Along with being an effective aid in Diabetes control, Sage tea is also known for its positive effect on liver function. A liver that is not functioning at its best can lead to headaches, fatigue, and reduced immunity. So Sage’s positive effect on the liver is one of its greatest medicinal effects. It is really important that you check with your doctor before starting to use herbal teas as an aid to control your blood sugar. It could be that your current health regime is sufficient enough and adding an herbal tea for lowering blood sugar could throw you into an unhealthy low range. This is also known as Hypoglycemia which is an abnormally diminished content of glucose in the blood. The term literally means “low blood sugar” It’s also really important to check out any negative side effects that the herbs contained in the herbal teas may have. You might find that you have another medical condition that the herbal tea would be harmful to. An example of this would be Sage and Epilepsy.
Sage is known to actually cause seizures in Epileptics and so they are advised to steer clear of Sage. Remember, you are not going to drink an herbal tea and suddenly be cured of all that ales you. Don’t give up after trying an herbal tea once and not seeing an immediate effect. Incorporating herbal teas into your daily schedule is just another way of improving your overall health. Drinking a cup of herbal tea can be a really relaxing…or energizing…or comforting experience that you will look forward to each day.
Source: WebMD http://diabetes.webmd.com/news/20080128/caffeine-risks-may-rattle-diabetics
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