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Study
confirms beverage benefits for fighting growing health problem.” Credit:
Renee Comet National
Cancer Institute Tastes
better than insulin Many
of coffee’s health benefits and risks remain unclear, but studies
suggest it can greatly reduce the risk of type 2 diabetes. Coffee
drinkers, rejoice: While there’s little evidence the beverage causes
serious health problems, a new study has confirmed it can dramatically
cut the risk of developing diabetes. The
study, by Jaakko Tuomilehto and colleagues from the National Public
Health Institute in Helsinki, Finland, looked at coffee’s suggested
protective effect against type 2 diabetes. Conducted
among residents of Finland, which has the highest per capita coffee
consumption in the world, the large study found that coffee drinking can
cut the risk of diabetes in men up to 55% and in women up to 79%. “This
study revealed unequivocal evidence for an inverse and graded
association between coffee consumption and type 2 diabetes independent
of other risk factors for type 2,” the authors write. “Because the
Finnish population drinks more coffee than other populations, we had the
power to determine the risk of diabetes at high levels of coffee
consumption.” Benefits
and risks Coffee
is one of the world’s most consumed beverages, yet much still remains
unknown about its health benefits and risks. Thanks to the caffeine in
coffee, over-consumption can cause nervous jitters and addiction, as
well as withdrawal symptoms when those who are addicted cut coffee out
of their diet. A
February, 2003 a Danish study also found that heavy coffee
consumption—between four and seven cups a day—during pregnancy
increases the risk of stillbirths. Eight or more cups during pregnancy
increased the risk of stillbirth 220% Other
than this, however, the evidence for coffee’s harmful effects is
considered weak. It has been implicated in such health problems as heart
disease, but the association is considered suspect because of the
difficulty in separating the impact of unhealthy behaviors that often
accompany coffee drinking—such as smoking and sitting in
smoke-saturated cafès—from coffee drinking alone. Protective
effect Evidence
for coffee’s protective effects against diabetes came in a study this
January that found drinking coffee cuts the risk of type 2
diabetes—the type of diabetes that usually develops in middle age, is
linked to being overweight and is on the rise with obesity. The
study, by researchers from the Harvard School of Public Health in
Boston, Massachusetts, found men who drank more than six cups of
caffeinated coffee per day were 50% less likely to develop type 2
diabetes while women who drank this much coffee had an almost 30%
reduced risk. The
new Finnish study extends these findings. It
combines surveys conducted in 1982, 1987 and 1992 of 6,974 men and 7,655
women aged 35 to 64 years old. The
participants, all Finnish, were screened to remove those with a history
of stroke, coronary heart disease or diabetes. Analyzing
the survey results, the researchers found a direct correlation between
levels of coffee consumption and the risk of developing diabetes. Women
who drank three to four cups a day had a 29% reduced risk while those
who drank 10 or more cups a day had a 79% reduced risk. Men
who drank three to four cups of coffee a day had a 27% reduced risk
while those who drank 10 or more cups a day had a 55% reduced risk. The
researchers conclude that coffee drinking has “a graded inverse
association” with the risk of type 2 diabetes but the “mechanisms or
process by which coffee contents may exert their beneficial effects on
diabetes are unclear.” The research is reported in the Journal of the American Medical Association.
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Coffee
Slashes Diabetes Risk