Caffeine linked to lower type 2 diabetes risk
long-term
Men and women who drank more coffee
and other caffeinated beverages were less likely to develop
type 2 diabetes than those who drank few or no caffeinated
beverages, report researchers in a new study.
While the authors stressed that their findings
did not prove that drinking coffee lowers the risk for diabetes,
and people should not increase coffee drinking in order to prevent
type 2 diabetes, it does further confirm the link between caffeine
and glucose tolerance.
A recent Dutch study also identified an association
between higher coffee consumption and lower risk for type 2 diabetes
mellitus. However it did not distinguish between intake of regular
and decaffeinated coffee.
The new US study, published in today's Annals
of Internal Medicine (vol 140, issue 1, pp1-8), found a statistically
significant protective association between total caffeine intake
and type 2 diabetes mellitus and a modest inverse association with
decaffeinated coffee consumption.
The data was taken from a study of more than 126,000
men and women who reported their intake of coffee and other caffeinated
beverages every two to four years over a period of 12 to 18 years.
Thee participants did not have diabetes, cancer, or cardiovascular
disease at baseline.
The association of coffee and type 2 diabetes
was similar in strength to the association between consumption
of tea and risk for diabetes, added the authors.
Coffee's impact on health is a controversial one
as it has also been shown to have negative effects, both for a
foetus and through raising risk of heart attack. But evidence of
its relationship with glucose has merited European funding for
a research project currently underway, while the coffee industry
is also hoping that its health benefits could boost profits.
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