Ripened Pu-erh tea extract demonstrates a stronger anti-diabetic impact than raw Pu-erh tea extract, potentially due to the fermentation process and its probiotic benefits to certain gut bacteria.
The methods of the study involved the processing and analysis of Pu-erh tea leaves, specifically the raw variety and the ripened type which goes through pile-fermentation. To identify differences in the anti-diabetic effects of both types, the researchers subjected their extracts to ultra-high-performance liquid chromatography paired with quadrupole-time-of-flight mass spectrometry (UHPLC-Q-TOF/MS) and UHPLC coupled with photodiode array (PDA) analyses. These techniques helped in identifying new compounds formed and those that increased due to the fermentation.
The research also performed a study observing the effects of Ripened Pu-erh Tea on beneficial gut bacteria, namely Lactobacillus, Bifidobacterium, Akkermansia, and Roseburia.
In their discussion, the researchers noted that the ripened Pu-erh tea extract exhibited more potent anti-diabetic effects on two key indicators of diabetes: two-hour postprandial blood glucose and fasting blood glucose. This superiority over the raw Pu-erh tea extract was attributed to 17 newly formed components and those that increase after fermentation such as quinic acid, gallic acid, caffeine, and puerin I. Furthermore, ripened Pu-erh tea showed to have a probiotic role on certain beneficial gut bacteria, implying an extra potential avenue for its anti-diabetic effects.
