Many people like to drink coffee. It is considered one of the more popular beverages in the world. Aside from the usual reasons why people like to drink them, it seems that coffee may have other benefits to offer. Researchers indicate that drinking coffee may help lower type 2 diabetes risk.
A new large US study seems to indicate that drinking coffee can lower a person’s risk of developing type 2 diabetes. Researchers from Harvard University analyzed data coming from three large studies that involved more than 123,000 participants who provided diet, lifestyle and medical data over a period of 20 years. The researchers observed that people who increased their coffee consumption by 1.5 cups per day over a 4-year period experienced a reduced risk of type 2 diabetes.
Drinking coffee and tea has long been associated with lower diabetes risk. This recent study showed how changes in coffee consumption can affect type 2 diabetes risk. The researchers looked into the link between changes in coffee consumption in four-year periods and the effect of type 2 diabetes risk in the subsequent 4 years. The availability of the repeated measures and the long duration of the different studies allowed the researchers to evaluate coffee consumption and type 2 diabetes risk in 4-year periods.
From the three studies, the researchers were able to document 7,269 cases of type 2 diabetes. The researchers found out that those who increased their coffee consumption by more than a cup per day over a 4-year period had an 11 percent lower risk of type 2 diabetes compared to those who did not change their coffee consumption. On the other hand, those who decreased their average coffee consumption by a cup per day experienced a 17 percent higher risk of type 2 diabetes.
In addition, the researchers found that participants who had the highest coffee consumption averaging 3 cups per day have the lowest type 2 diabetes risk, 37 percent lower than those who were drinking an average of a cup or less per day.
Source: Science Daily
Tags: coffee consumption, coffee drinking, Diabetes News, diabetes study, type 2 diabetes risk