A recent study conducted in China has found that drinking at least four cups a day, can help reduce the risk of developing Type 2 Diabetes.

The Chinese researchers behind the findings state that four or more cups of tea a day can reduce the risk by 17% over 10 years.

“Our results are exciting because they suggest that people can do something as simple as drinking four cups of tea a day to reduce their risk of developing type 2 diabetes,” told Ms. Xiaoying Li of Wuhan University of Science and Technology in China.

The protective effect may be even greater if people put milk in their tea, Ms. Li said. Although Ms. Li and seven co-authors did not investigate the effect of milk in tea as part of their work, previous studies have shown that dairy products can also have anti diabetic effect.

The analysis found a linear relationship between tea drinking and the risk of Type 2 Diabetes, but when one went up, the other went down.

The researchers studied 5,199 adults (2,583 men and 2,616 women) who were recruited in 1997 and followed through 2009. Subjects had no history of Type 2 Diabetes and were on of an average age of 42 years.

From the overall results of the meta-analysis, the results were more significant with higher daily tea consumption. The appropriate conclusion of the researchers is that only significant amounts of tea can have an effect.

Ms. Li mentioned that the findings are observational and do not prove that drinking tea lowers the risk of Type 2 Diabetes.

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