Now, keep up to date
with daily feeds of newly posted stories
about America's Seniors...click on the box
to the left
Coffee
intake linked to lower diabetes risk?
Newswise — Drinking coffee, especially when
it is decaffeinated, may be associated with
a reduced risk of type 2 diabetes, according
to a report in the June 26 issue of Archives
of Internal Medicine, one of the JAMA/Archives
journals.
Previous studies in the United States and
Europe have linked coffee to a reduced risk
of type 2 diabetes, according to background
information in the article.
The link between coffee and diabetes risk
appears to be consistent across different
ages and body weights; in addition, most
research has found that the more coffee an
individual generally drinks, the lower his
or her risk for diabetes.
However, it remains unclear whether it is
the caffeine or another ingredient in coffee
that may confer a protective effect.
Mark A. Pereira, Ph.D., and colleagues at
the University of Minnesota, Minneapolis,
studied coffee intake and diabetes risk in
28,812 postmenopausal women in Iowa over an
11-year period.
At the beginning of the study, in 1986, the
women answered questions about their risk
factors for diabetes, including age, body
mass index, physical activity, alcohol
consumption and smoking history.
They also reported how often they consumed a
variety of foods and beverages over the
previous year, including regular and
decaffeinated coffee.
Based on information reported in the initial
questionnaire, about half of the women
(14,224) drank one to three cups of coffee
per day; 2,875 drank more than six cups;
5,554 four to five cups; 3,231 less than one
cup; and 2,928 none.
Over the following 11 years, 1,418 of the
women reported on surveys that they had been
newly diagnosed with type 2 diabetes.
After adjusting the data for some of the
other diabetes risk factors, women who drank
more than six cups of any type of coffee per
day were 22 percent less likely than those
who drank no coffee to be diagnosed with
diabetes; those who drank more than six cups
of decaffeinated coffee per day had a 33
percent reduction in risk compared with
those who drank none.
Overall caffeine intake did not appear to be
related to diabetes risk, further suggesting
that some other ingredient in coffee was
responsible.
“Magnesium, for which coffee is a good
source, could explain some of the inverse
association between coffee intake and risk
of type 2 diabetes mellitus through known
beneficial effects on carbohydrate
metabolism,” the authors write.
However, the study found no association
between this mineral and diabetes risk.
Other minerals and nutrients found in the
coffee bean—including compounds known as
polyphenols that have also been shown to
help the body process carbohydrates and
antioxidants that may protect cells in the
insulin-producing pancreas—may contribute to
its beneficial effects and should be
examined in future studies.
“In summary, we observed an inverse
association between coffee consumption,
especially decaffeinated coffee consumption,
and the risk of type 2 diabetes mellitus
over an 11-year period in postmenopausal
women residing in the state of Iowa,” the
authors conclude.
“Although the first line of prevention for
diabetes is exercise and diet, in light of
the popularity of coffee consumption and
high rates of type 2 diabetes mellitus in
older adults, these findings may carry high
public health significance.”
... ..
...
...