Green Tea Stops Muscle Injury from High Blood Sugar

A new animal study points out a key mechanism that explains how green tea protects muscles from damage when a person is overweight or has type 2 diabetes. 

As a person gains weight muscles become progressively more inefficient, resulting in easier fatigue and varying degrees of insulin resistance.  Instead of a smooth production of energy, muscle cells in overweight people make increasing amounts of free radicals.  These free radicals damage the mitochondria Organelle found in cells that produce ATP or chemical energy. Also involved with cell signaling, cellular differentiation, cell death, cell growth, along with heme and steroid synthesis. of muscle cells, triggering the natural process of autophagy, which either tries to clean up the damage or recycle the cell if it is too damaged (meaning cell death).  Unfortunately, for those in poor metabolic condition the tendency of autophagy is to trigger cell death in muscles, leading to progressively worse insulin resistance.  It is a snowballing effect in the wrong direction, a problem faced by tens of millions of overweight Americans.

The researchers showed that the powerful catechin in green tea, epigallocatechin-3-gallate Type catechin in the family of bioflavonoid that is found most notably in green tea. Potent antioxidant. (EGCG), reduced insulin resistance and free radical damage, while turning down the genes associated with excessive autophagy that lead to muscle cell death.  This is a profound preservation of health by EGCG in the presence of high blood sugar.  Remember, your fasting blood sugar level should never be above 90.  If it is, you need to protect your body from the higher than desirable blood sugar.  The higher your blood sugar the more protection you should employ, while also working to improve your blood sugar metabolism. 

Nutrients like lipoic acid and carnosine help protect against the caramelizing effect of high blood sugar while nutrients like chromium and cinnamon help blood sugar metabolism work better.  Quite a few natural options may be of help, as I previously explained in my detailed article, Insulin, Leptin, and Blood Sugar – Why Diabetic Medication Fails.  Green Tea EGCG certainly earns a spot on any person’s blood sugar management program, as it also helps weight and cholesterol management via other mechanisms.