Diabetes research has shown that drinking tea is good for you. Green teas, in particular, appear to have high numbers of phytonutrients known as polyphenols. These are plant-based antioxidants that have been shown to help diabetics and others by providing many benefits. These can include:
- Improving insulin sensitivity
- Maintaining blood pressure
- Reducing the risk of developing type 2 diabetes (T2D)
- Reducing the risk of developing cancer
- Preventing blood clots
- Reducing the risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD)
However, you may be wondering which is better to drink, green or white tea? It appears that both are green teas or teas that are not processed, like black tea. So, what is the main difference between them?
Well, what we think of as green tea is made up of the mature leaves of a tea plant while white tea is made from the immature leaves of the tea plant. You can easily tell them apart because green tea leaves are green and white tea leaves have microscopic, fuzzy white hairs all over them.
It has long been thought that white tea contains more antioxidants because it is the least oxidized of all of the teas. Oxidation destroys the antioxidants that these leaves naturally contain.
Is This True?
A study published in Molecular Nutrition & Food Research found that there are more bioavailable phytonutrients within white tea leaves. However, those nutrients only become available when you add lemon to your white tea.
It seems that lemon juice helps release the 
antioxidants within white tea by increasing the water pH levels. Furthermore, both green and white teas produced with either cow milk, soy milk, or rice milk had significantly increased amounts of available antioxidants in both teas after digestion.
So, if you like drinking your tea plain, both green tea and white tea offer the same levels of phytonutrients. But, if you like to add a little lemon to your cup, white tea can offer three times the level of antioxidants.
[expand title=”References“]
Tea and Diabetes. URL Link. Accessed April 30, 2017.
Truth About Tea. URL Link. Accessed April 30, 2017.
Green VS. White. URL Link. Accessed April 30, 2017.
Common Tea Formulations Modulate In Vitro Digestive Recovery Of Green Tea Catechins. URL Link. Accessed April 30, 2017.
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