A new study suggests that increased coffee consumption by one and a half cups each day may cut the risk to Type 2 diabetes by 11 percent.
Researchers from the Department of Nutrition at Harvard's School of Public Health led by Dr. Frank Hu and Dr. Shilpa Bhupathiraju studied the data of about 124,000 people obtained from three large national health studies. The participants' ages ranged from 25 to 75 years old with data covering their diet, lifestyle, medical conditions, and diseases within the 20-year study period. Subjects were assessed every four years.
These repeated measurements and the follow-up studies enabled the researchers to record the changes in coffee intake for over four years and its connection to the increased risk of type 2 diabetes over the same period. They were also able to study if there is a connection between type 2 diabetes and drinking decaffeinated and caffeinated coffee.
Their analysis revealed that 7,269 - or six percent - of participants who upped their coffee consumption by more than one cup a day showed 11 percent decreased risk of having Type 2 diabetes. On the other hand, those who reduced their coffee intake by one cup a day increased their risk of acquiring the disease by 17 percent. Similarly, changing the amount of tea consumption had no significant connection with the risk of developing Type 2 diabetes.
Researchers also found those who consumed the highest amount of coffee - at least three cups a day - have a 37 percent decreased risk of developing Type 2 diabetes.
"Changes in coffee consumption habits appear to affect diabetes risk in a relatively short amount of time. Our findings confirm those of prospective studies that higher coffee consumption is associated with a lower type 2 diabetes risk and provide novel evidence that changes in coffee consumption habits are related to diabetes risk," the authors wrote in a press release.
Further details of the study can be read in the April 24 issue of Diabetologia.
