A Traditional African Tea May Benefit Diabetics

Researchers are developing a new tea based on a traditional Nigerian medicine which shows promise as a new treatment for diabetes.

The African tea is made from the extract of Rauvolfia Vomitoria leaves and the fruit of Citrus aurantium.

Rauvolfia Vomitoria , also known as poison devil`s-pepper, is used in traditional Nigerian medicine for treatment of hypertension, to decrease heart rate  and as an antidepressant.

Citrus aurantium has a number of medicinal uses including treatment for nausea, indigestion, insomnia, nasal congestion and weight loss.

Researchers harvested these extracts in Africa and produced the tea based on the same recipes local healers use.

Researchers Per Molgaard and Joan Campbell-Tofte from the Department of Medicinal Chemistry at the University of Copenhagen, Denmark tested the tea on diabetic mice.

After six weeks of daily treatment with the tea, the researchers observed “changes in the combination and amount of fat in the animals' eyes and protection of the fragile pancreas of the mice.

After these promising results, the researchers completed a 4 month clinical test on 23 patients with type-2 diabetes.

The participants drank 750ml of the tea daily.

The researchers saw no initial change in blood sugar levels but after four months there was a significant increase in glucose tolerance.

The researchers plan to conduct further clinical trials in order confirm the tea is a viable treatment for type-2 diabetes.