Coffee drinkers worldwide rejoice. Your favourite “wakey juice” may lower inflammation and reduce diabetes risk, according to a new research.
“Extensive research has revealed that coffee drinking exhibits both beneficial and aggravating health effects,” said Demosthenes B Panagiotakos of the department of Nutrition and Dietetics at Harokopio University in Athens, Greece. Yet, an inverse relation between caffeine infusions intake and diabetes has been reported. This is good news for more than three-quarters of Americans. Over 78% US citizens are coffee drinkers, sustaining the beverage’s place as America’s top daily drink choice next to water.
Coffee Wins
In 2001 and 2002, researchers selected a random sample consisting of more than 1,300 men and women age 18 years and older in Greece’s capital, to understand the cause-and-effect hypothesis between drinking coffee and diabetes prevention.
The Athenians filled out dietary questionnaires including questions about their coffee drinking frequency, according to the study published in the European Journal of Clinical Nutrition.
Drinking less than 1.5 cups of coffee a day was termed “casual” coffee drinking while more than 1.5 cups per day was “habitual” drinking. The second category sounds about right to me.
Researchers found that there were 816 casual drinkers, 385 habitual drinkers and 239 non-coffee drinkers.
The link between diabetes prevention and coffee consumption
Ten years later, 191 people had developed diabetes. Participants who reported higher coffee consumption, however, were 54 percent less likely to develop diabetes compared to non-coffee drinkers.
What’s surprising is that this was true even after researchers took into account lifestyle habits or medical records, such as smoking, drinking other caffeinated beverages, high blood pressure or family history of diabetes.
Results were based on blood tests evaluating levels of protein markers of inflammation, as well antioxidant levels, which indicate the body’s ability to neutralise cell-damaging “free radicals”.
We know that coffee is great, but how is this possible?
Researchers noted that the reason for a reduction in the risk for type 2 diabetes could be the role coffee plays in reducing the amount of inflammation in the body.
Scientists believe that the lower levels in coffee drinkers of serum amyloid, which is an inflammatory marker found in the blood, may explain the link between café and diabetes. The researchers specified that they cannot exactly confirm the positive relationship between the two, but that they are one step closer to proving that coffee may actually be helping in the prevention of diabetes.
For now, let’s make a toast to coffee and continue to maintain a healthy body weight, as it’s the most effective way to reduce your risk for diabetes.
