Small steps to keep diabetes at bay: Have 4 cups of tea, work out daily & quit smoking

The Covid pandemic was a wake-up call that it was time to change daily habits to reinforce a healthy lifestyle.

Eating right and working out daily can not only keep lifestyle-related problems at bay, but also aid mental well-being.

The studies will be presented at the European Association for the Study of Diabetes (EASD) annual meeting in Sweden this week.

Here's a quick look at the detailed findings:

A Cup Of Hope
The power of a cup of tea cannot be underestimated. Now, there's a study to prove it too.

The research said that consumption of black, green or Oolong (traditional Chinese drink) tea in moderation can lower the risk of developing Type 2 diabetes. Drinking at least four cups of tea a day can reduce the risk of diabetes by 17 per cent during an average period of 10 years.


Published in Diabetologia journal, the study included responses from over a million adults from eight countries. The new meta-analysis found a linear association between tea drinking and diabetes risk, which said that a cup of tea a day can reduce the risk of developing diabetes by around 1 per cent.

When compared with adults who didn't drink tea, those who drank one to three cups daily lowered their risk of diabetes by four per cent, while those who consumed at least four cups every day reduced their risk by 17 per cent.

Tea is known to be packed with health benefits such as antioxidant, anti-inflammatory and anti-carcinogenic compounds. The study found that particular components in tea, such as polyphenols, may is responsible for reducing blood glucose levels, but a sufficient amount of these bioactive compounds may be needed to be effective.

Healthy Living
The benefits of a healthy lifestyle are not hidden.

A new study has revealed that people with type 2 diabetes are now more likely to die from cancer than from cardiovascular disease. Diabetics with cancer are more likely to die in the next seven years if they smoke or are physically inactive.

In recent years, cancer has surpassed cardiovascular disease and become one of the main causes of death in people with diabetes.

The study included 655,344 individuals with type 2 diabetes listed in the Swedish National Diabetes Register between 1998-2019, of whom 43 per cent were women. The average age was 63 years when included in the study.

The data showed that low physical activity and smoking were two major risk factors that were linked to the death of individuals with diabetes and cancer. Smokers were more than twice as likely (2.15 times) to die during the course of the study as non-smokers. Low levels of physical activity (less than 3-5 days/week) were associated with a 1.6 increase in the risk of death.

A Strong Mind
Leading a healthy life had other benefits too.

The research found that investing in a healthy lifestyle can half the risk of dementia half in people who are suffering from Type 2 diabetes.

According to the UK Biobank study, people with Type 2 diabetes - who lead poor lifestyles - are considerably more likely to experience dementia than those who follow a healthy routine.

For the study, the researchers monitored 445,364 participants for the onset of dementia.

Participants responded to a questionnaire that inquired about their habits with regard to watching television, getting enough sleep, exercising, drinking alcohol, smoking, and eating processed and red meat, fruits, vegetables, and oily fish. They were divided into three categories based on their responses: the most healthy, the fairly healthy, and the least healthy.

The study found that dementia risk increased in tandem with both type 2 diabetes and an unhealthy lifestyle. Dementia was 33 per cent more likely to occur in people with type 2 diabetes than in people without T2D.