Drinking more than three cups of tea a day cuts the risk of diabetes, say researchers. Studies show that regular tea drinkers have a 25 per cent lower chance of developing Type 2 diabetes compared to those drinking tea occasionally or not at all.

Almost 80 per cent of Britons are tea drinkers, getting through 165million cups a day. Diabetes affects 2.3million.

Researchers are suggesting doctors tell patients most likely to develop the condition to step up their tea consumption.

The seven studies involved almost 300,000 tea drinkers, while further studies included information on those who drank regular coffee and decaffeinated coffee.

They showed coffee drinking was also linked with a reduced risk of developing diabetes, says a report in the Archives of Internal Medicine journal.

The researchers from the University of Sydney collated studies involving 286,701 people which looked at the association between tea consumption and diabetes risk published between 1966 and 2009.

In addition, 18 studies on coffee and diabetes found that drinking four cups cut the risk of getting diabetes by 25 per cent compared to those drinking no coffee.

Dr Rachel Huxley, who led the research team, said the protection appeared to be due to ‘direct biological effects’

A link was also found with decaffeinated coffee, so caffeine was unlikely to be solely responsible for the effect. By Jenny Hope, The Daily Mail