Moderate Coffee Consumption Linked To Lower Diabetes Risk

Wed, 22 Feb 2012

Drinking four to five cups of coffee a day may reduce a person’s risk of developing type 2 diabetes, according to new research reported in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition .

Latest analysis from the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition (EPIC) study found that moderate consumption of coffee - caffeinated or decaffeinated - everyday cuts diabetes risk by around 30 per cent compared with drinking it occasionally or not at all.

It also revealed that the popular drink does not increase the risk of heart disease or cancer, as suggested in previous studies.

For the research, 42,659 people were analysed and followed up for almost nine years on average by scientists in Germany. During that time, 1,432 cases of type 2 diabetes were diagnosed, along with 1,801 cancer cases, 394 heart attacks and 310 strokes.

Moderate consumption (four or more cups a day) of both kinds of coffee, compared with less than one cup, was linked to a lower risk of 20-30 per cent of developing type 2 diabetes, and was not associated with a higher risk of chronic disease .

Dr Euan Paul, executive director of the British Coffee Association, said: "This study adds to the growing scientific data that suggests moderate coffee consumption, four to five cups of coffee per day, is safe and does not increase the risk of a range of chronic disease."

"It is particularly encouraging to see that coffee consumption may lower the risk of type 2 diabetes given that around 90 per cent of all adults in the UK with diabetes have type 2 diabetes."

The findings come just days after a UK-based study published in the journal Nutrition Bulletin revealed that drinking three or more cups of black tea a day can help protect against both diabetes and heart disease by cutting levels of blood sugar and low-density lipoprotein (LDL or ‘bad cholesterol ’).

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