GOOD THINGS IN LIFE
Can coffee help in diabetes prevention?
Epidemiological evidence shows that drinking three to four cups of coffee per day is associated with an approximate 25% lower risk of developing type 2 diabetes, compared to consuming none or less than two cups per day.
An early study, published more than ten years ago, investigated the association between coffee consumption and risk of type 2 diabetes in a cohort of 17,111 adults aged 30-60. Over the follow up period, 360 new cases of type 2 diabetes were identified and after adjusting for potential confounders, individuals who drank at least seven cups of coffee a day were half as likely to develop type 2 diabetes than those who drank two cups or fewer. A more recent study among a population-based cohort of middle-aged Chinese people, also found coffee intake to be inversely associated with type 2 diabetes.
Furthermore, two review papers, both published in 2012, add to the existing body of evidence suggesting that habitual coffee consumption is associated with a lower risk of type 2 diabetes. The first systematic review8 concluded that habitual coffee consumption is associated with a lower risk of type 2 diabetes. Participants who drank four to six cups and more than six to seven cups of coffee per day had a lower risk of type 2 diabetes compared with those who drank less than two cups per day.
The authors concluded that more detailed studies of coffee consumption, including appropriate measures of postprandial hyperglycemia and insulin sensitivity, are required. A second review discussed the strength of this relationship and assessed the possible mechanisms by which coffee components might affect diabetes development, especially in light of the paradoxical effect of caffeine on glucose metabolism.
Clich Here for the ISIC Diabetes Report 2014 in PDF format.