Green Tea Supports Heart Health and Blood Sugar Balancing

by CP Staff

According to a recently published study, the antioxidants in green tea may help support cardiovascular health in individuals who need to maintain healthy blood sugar levels.

In this new study, researchers studied cardiovascular health and blood sugar levels in laboratory animals. Previous research has shown that excessive carbohydrate intake may cause both blood sugar abnormalities as well as a state of oxidative stress.

The rats in this study were fed either a diet of fructose plus condensed milk as a high-carbohydrate diet or a control diet of cornstarch. Some of the rats were also supplemented with green tea beginning on day one of the study, and other rats received green tea beginning on day 56 of the study.

The results showed that the rats fed the high-carbohydrate diet exhibited glucose intolerance, elevated blood pressure and increased blood levels of malondialdehyde, which is a marker of oxidative stress. The rats also showed increased collagen deposition in the heart muscle and heart muscle thickening with increased stiffness, which indicates that the heart was compensating for an increased workload. In the rats supplemented with green tea in addition to the high-carbohydrate diet, there was a significant enhancement of heart health and reduced levels of oxidative stress markers.

The study authors stated that green tea enhanced cardiovascular health in high-carbohydrate-fed rats, suggesting that a chronic state of oxidative stress plays a key role in the non-optimal heart function resulting from consumption of large amounts of carbohydrates.

Reference:

Rickman C, Iyer A, Chan V, Brown L. Green Tea Attenuates Cardiovascular Remodelling and Metabolic Symptoms in High Carbohydrate-Fed Rats. Curr Pharm Biotechnol. 2010 Sep 28. Published Online Ahead of Print.