Coffee Drinkers Show Lower Diabetes Risk
Medline Plus
Thursday, November 30, 2006

By: Amy Norton

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - It might be better to start your morning with a cup of coffee than a sugar-sweetened juice, at least where risk for type 2 diabetes is concerned, a new study suggests. Researchers found that among more than 12,000 middle-aged adults, those who drank four or more cups of coffee each day had a lower risk of developing type 2 diabetes than those who rarely had a cup.

The findings, reported in the American Journal of Epidemiology, agree with those of several past studies. The reason is not fully clear, but one possibility is that certain coffee components such as magnesium or chlorogenic acid - improve the body's regulation of blood sugar. Some research also suggests that caffeinated coffee spurs a prolonged spike in metabolism that may help control body weight.

Type 2 diabetes arises when the body loses sensitivity in the hormone insulin, which shuffles sugar from the blood into cells to be used for energy. The disorder is closely associated with obesity. In contrast to the case with coffee, sugar-filled soft drinks and juices have been linked to obesity and higher diabetes risk in certain studies. In the current one, however, a taste for sweet drinks was not a risk factor for diabetes.

Still, the findings are not a green light to fill up on coffee and sugary drinks, according to the researchers, led by Nina P. Paynter, a doctoral candidate at the John Hopkins School of Public Health in Baltimore. Moderation, as always, is in order, the study's senior author, Dr. W.H. Linda Kao, told Reuters Health.