Doctors back foods that help fight diabetes

• November is National Diabetes Awareness Month and an appropriate time to highlight some recent studies into food compounds that may hold clues for the future treatment of diabetes.
• All of the studies were published in the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry, a journal of the American Chemical Society, the world's largest scientific society.
• Tea fights cataracts, boosts insulin activity -- New research in animals suggests that tea may be a simple, inexpensive means of preventing diabetes and its ensuing complications, including cataracts.
• Researchers fed green and black tea to diabetic rats for three months and then monitored the chemical composition of the rats' blood and eye lenses.
• Another study on tea, done by researchers from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, found that the popular beverage may increase insulin activity.
• Using black, green and oolong teas, the scientists found that tea increased insulin activity by about 15-fold in tests using fat cells obtain from rats.
• The effect was primarily due to epigallocatechin gallate, an active compound found in tea, says study leader Richard A. Anderson, Ph.D., of the USDA's Agricultural Research Service in Beltsville, Md.
• Cinnamon lowers blood sugar levels -- Several compounds isolated from cinnamon may one day become the key natural ingredients in a new generation of products aimed at lowering blood sugar levels, according to USDA researchers.
• Buckwheat decreases blood glucose -- Researchers in Canada have found new evidence that buckwheat, a grain used in making pancakes and soba noodles, may be beneficial in the management of diabetes.
• Cherries may help lower blood sugar -- Researchers have identified a group of naturally occurring chemicals abundant in cherries that could help lower blood sugar levels in people with diabetes.