Chemical in wine, dark chocolate and fruits, may help improve insulin resistance

Embargoed until: Publicly released: 2025-12-06 06:00

Australia; International; ACT

Photo by Callum Hill on Unsplash

Flavonoids, chemicals found in dark-coloured fruits, orange citrus, tea, red wine and even dark chocolate, may help improve insulin resistance according to Australian research. Previous research has linked flavonoid intake with benefits for cancer and blood pressure, and using data from Australian health and nutrition surveys, the researchers found a link between intake of these foods and lower insulin resistance - a condition that can lead to type 2 diabetes and other metabolic conditions. This type of study cannot prove the flavonoids are the reason for this link, but the researchers say they were able to show evidence of flavonoids tackling insulin resistance in cells in a lab.

Attachments

Note: Not all attachments are visible to the general public. Research URLs will go live after the embargo ends.

Research PLOS, Web page The URL will go live after the embargo ends

Journal/
conference: PLOS One

Research:Paper

Organisation/s: The Australian National University, Shandong University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, China

Funder: This work was funded by the Science and Technology Co-construction Project of the Science and Technology Department of the National Administration of Traditional Chinese Medicine (GZY-KJS-SD-2024-082, awarded to Guiju Zhang).

Media Contact/s

Contact details are only visible to registered journalists.