Scientist Dr. Graham Rena and his team at the Neurosciences Institute of the University of Dundee, say however that the research is still at the laboratory stage.

They are hoping for funding to investigate further and replicate their findings in clinical settings.

Green tea has been regarded for a number of years as having health giving benefits but black tea has never before awarded the same qualities.

The team are conducting research for compounds that have the potential to replace insulin in type 2 diabetes, where the body's cells have become resistant to insulin which is a vital regulator of blood sugar.

The research, carried out with researchers from the Scottish Crop Research Institute, revealed that the black tea compounds theaflavins and thearubigins behaved in the same manner as insulin.

Dr. Reno says they found that these compounds are able to mimic insulin action on proteins known as FOXOs (forkhead transcription factor family O) which are known to regulate links between diet and health in many organisms, including mice, worms and fruit flies.

Rena says the challenge now is to see whether these findings can be translated into something useful for human health.

Dr. Rena says the Dundee study is just the first step, and if they can find substances that restore the regulation of the FOXO proteins in people with type 2 diabetes, then these could be used to help them overcome some of the serious health problems that this diagnosis brings.

Dr. Rena cautions against the urge to suddenly start drinking lots of black tea in the hope that it will cure their diabetes because a lot more research is needed.

He says the research into tea compounds is at a preclinical, experimental stage and people with diabetes should continue to take their medicines as directed by their doctor.

Diabetes is the fastest growing epidemic in the world and according to World Health Organization (WHO) estimates, more than 350 million people worldwide will have the disease by 2030.

The research is published in the current issue of the journal Aging Cell.

"The lesson we have learned with diabetes surgery is that diabetes is not always a chronic and relentless disease, where the only possible treatment goal is just the control of hyperglycemia and minimization of the risk of complications. Gastrointestinal surgery offers the possibility of complete disease remission. This is a major shift in the way we consider treatment goals for diabetes. It is unprecedented in the history of the disease," adds Dr. Rubino.

Type 2 diabetes, which accounts for 90 to 95 percent of all cases of diabetes, is a growing epidemic that afflicts more than 200 million people worldwide.

At a time when diabetes is growing epidemically worldwide, Dr. Rubino says that finding new treatment strategies is a race against time. "At this point, missing the opportunity that surgery offers is not an option."

In addition to having performed landmark studies in the field of diabetes surgery, Dr. Rubino was the principal organizer of an influential Diabetes Surgery Summit, held in Rome in March 2007. This international consensus conference helped establish the field, making international recommendations for the use of surgery and creating an International Diabetes Surgery Task Force. Dr. Rubino serves as a founding member.

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NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical Center

NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical Center, located in New York City, is one of the leading academic medical centers in the world, comprising the teaching hospital NewYork-Presbyterian and Weill Cornell Medical College, the medical school of Cornell University. NewYork-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell provides state-of-the-art inpatient, ambulatory and preventive care in all areas of medicine, and is committed to excellence in patient care, education, research and community service. Weill Cornell physician-scientists have been responsible for many medical advances -- from the development of the Pap test for cervical cancer to the synthesis of penicillin, the first successful embryo-biopsy pregnancy and birth in the U.S., the first clinical trial for gene therapy for Parkinson's disease, the first indication of bone marrow's critical role in tumor growth, and, most recently, the world's first successful use of deep brain stimulation to treat a minimally-conscious brain-injured patient. NewYork-Presbyterian, which is ranked sixth on the U.S.News & World Report list of top hospitals, also comprises NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Columbia University Medical Center, Morgan Stanley Children's Hospital of NewYork-Presbyterian, NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Westchester Division and NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/The Allen Pavilion. Weill Cornell Medical College is the first U.S. medical college to offer a medical degree overseas and maintains a strong global presence in Austria, Brazil, Haiti, Tanzania, Turkey and Qatar.

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