on plasma antioxidant capacity and a number of risk factors in patients with coronary artery disease. While some human intervention studies evaluating effects of tea consumption on selective biomarkers of oxidative stress have been confronted with certain confounding lifestyle factors, this study was designed to minimize effects of smoking and alcohol on levels of the measured biomarkers. It is impossible for all subjects to maintain the same food consumption throughout the study period. The subjects were asked to maintain their former diet during the study and it was expected that the randomized design could balance eventual bias between the study and control groups. Nevertheless their daily diet was monitored and diet form data indicated that the fat/lipid content of the population diet did not change significantly during the intervention trial.
The baseline mean values of fasting serum glucose in both normal male and female tea and control groups were higher than the international standard values which vary between 70 and 111 mg/dL It is noteworthy to situate these data in the context whereby health reports indicate a 23,6% incidence of diabetes in the Mauritian population (age 25-74) and further emphasize that for every known case of diabetes, there was one newly diagnosed case (Ministry of Health and Quality of Life, Mauritius, 2009). Consumption of the black tea infusate for 12 weeks significantly reduced the fasting glucose level by 20% in males and 15% in females. An antihyperglycemic effect of black tea can therefore be anticipated