According to a study published in the European Journal of Clinical Nutrition, coffee drinkers were about half as likely to develop type 2 diabetes as those who didn’t drink coffee. Researchers believe that an inflammation-lowering effect of the beverage might be the key.
Demosthenes B Panagiotakos of the department of Nutrition and Dietetics at Harokopio University in Athens, Greece said that extensive research has revealed that coffee drinking exhibits both beneficial and aggravating health effects.
Panagiotakos, a co-author of the new study said that an inverse relation between coffee intake and diabetes has been reported in many prospective studies whereas some have yielded insignificant results.
In 2001 and 2002, the researchers selected a random sample of more than 1,300 men and women age 18 years and older in Athens. The participants filled out dietary questionnaires including questions about coffee drinking frequency. Drinking less than 1.5 cups of coffee per day was termed ‘casual’ coffee drinking, and more than 1.5 cups per day was ‘habitual’ drinking. There were 816 casual drinkers, 385 habitual drinkers and 239 non-coffee drinkers.
The participants also had blood tests to evaluate levels of protein markers of inflammation. The tests also measured antioxidant levels, which indicate the body’s ability to neutralize cell-damaging ‘free radicals.’ Ten years later, 191 people had developed diabetes, including 13 percent of the men and 12 percent of the women in the original group. And participants who reported higher coffee consumption had lower likelihoods of developing diabetes.
Habitual coffee drinkers were 54 percent less likely to develop diabetes compared to non-coffee drinkers, even after accounting for smoking, high blood pressure, family history of diabetes and intake of other caffeinated beverages.
Panagiotakos said that oxidative stress has been shown to accelerate the dysfunction of pancreatic b-cells and antioxidants intake has been shown to decrease diabetes risk, so the antioxidant components of coffee may be beneficial, but still more research is needed towards this direction.
