Can a cup of coffee reduce the risk of Diabetes?

Diabetes is a disease in which the body does not produce or properly use insulin.Insulin is a hormone that is needed to convert sugar, starches and other food into energy needed for daily life. The cause of diabetes continues to be a mystery, although both genetics and environmental factors such as obesity and lack of exercise appear to play roles.

In order to determine whether or not a patient has pre-diabetes or diabetes, health care providers conduct a Fasting Plasma Glucose Test (FPG) or an Oral Glucose Tolerance Test (OGTT). Either test can be used to diagnose pre-diabetes or diabetes. The American Diabetes Association recommends the FPG because it is easier, faster, and less expensive to perform.

Normal Standards

With the FPG test, a fasting blood glucose level between 100 and 125 mg/dl signals pre-diabetes. A person with a fasting blood glucose level of 126 mg/dl or higher has diabetes.

In the OGTT test, a person's blood glucose level is measured after a fast and two hours after drinking a glucose-rich beverage. If the two-hour blood glucose level is between 140 and 199 mg/dl, the person tested has pre-diabetes. If the two-hour blood glucose level is at 200 mg/dl or higher, the person tested has diabetes.

Major Types of Diabetes

Type 1 diabetes

Results from the body's failure to produce insulin, the hormone that "unlocks" the cells of the body, allowing glucose to enter and fuel them. It is estimated that 5-10% of Americans who are diagnosed with diabetes have type 1 diabetes.

Type 2 diabetes

Results from insulin resistance (a condition in which the body fails to properly use insulin), combined with relative insulin deficiency. Most Americans who are diagnosed with diabetes have type 2 diabetes.

Gestational diabetes

Gestational diabetes affects about 4% of all pregnant women.

Pre-diabetes

Pre-diabetes is a condition that occurs when a person's blood glucose levels are higher than normal but not high enough for a diagnosis of type 2 diabetes. There are 54 million Americans who have pre-diabetes, in addition to the 20.8 million with diabetes.

Type 2 diabetes - An overview

Type 2 diabetes is the most common form of diabetes. In type 2 diabetes, either the body does not produce enough insulin or the cells ignore the insulin. Insulin is necessary for the body to be able to use sugar. Sugar is the basic fuel for the cells in the body, and insulin takes the sugar from the blood into the cells. When glucose builds up in the blood instead of going into cells, it can cause two problems:

Right away, your cells may be starved for energy. Over time, high blood glucose levels may hurt your eyes, kidneys, nerves or heart.

Finding out you have diabetes is scary. But don't panic. Type 2 diabetes is serious, but people with diabetes can live long, healthy, happy lives. While diabetes occurs in people of all ages and races, some groups have a higher risk for developing type 2 diabetes than others. Type 2 diabetes is more common in African Americans, Latinos, Native Americans, and Asian Americans/Pacific Islanders, as well as the aged population.

Can coffee reduce the risk of diabetes? Know the fact.

Coffee reduces risk of diabetes. Research suggests that people who drink coffee are less likely to get type 2 diabetes. It isn't known whether the caffeine or some other ingredient in coffee is responsible for its protective effects.

The researchers wanted to see whether there is a link between diabetes and drinking coffee and green, black, and oolong tea. Participants completed a detailed questionnaire about their health, lifestyle habits, and how much coffee and tea they drank. The questionnaire was repeated at the end of the 5-year follow-up period.  When other factors were accounted for, researchers found that the more green tea and coffee participants drank, the less likely they were to get diabetes. People who drank six cups or more of green tea or three or more cups of coffee each day were about one-third less likely to get diabetes. The link was stronger in women than in men. No pattern was seen with black or oolong tea.

Coffee Slashes Diabetes Risk Up To 80%

Tastes better than insulin

Many of coffee’s health benefits and risks remain unclear, but studies suggest it can greatly reduce the risk of type 2 diabetes. Coffee drinkers, rejoice: While there’s little evidence the beverage causes serious health problems, a new study has confirmed it can dramatically cut the risk of developing diabetes.

The study, by Jaakko Tuomilehto and colleagues from the National Public Health Institute in Helsinki , Finland , looked at coffee’s suggested protective effect against type 2 diabetes. Conducted among residents of Finland , which has the highest per capita coffee consumption in the world, the large study found that coffee drinking can cut the risk of diabetes in men up to 55% and in women up to 79%.

“This study revealed unequivocal evidence for an inverse and graded association between coffee consumption and type 2 diabetes independent of other risk factors for type 2”. “Because the Finnish population drinks more coffee than other populations, we had the power to determine the risk of diabetes at high levels of coffee consumption.”

Benefits and risks

Coffee is one of the world’s most consumed beverages, yet much still remains unknown about its health benefits and risks. Thanks to the caffeine in coffee, over-consumption can cause nervous jitters and addiction, as well as withdrawal symptoms when those who are addicted cut coffee out of their diet.

A February, 2003 a Danish study also found that heavy coffee consumption—between four and seven cups a day—during pregnancy increases the risk of stillbirths. Eight or more cups during pregnancy increased the risk of still birth 220%

Other than this, however, the evidence for coffee’s harmful effects is considered weak. It has been implicated in such health problems as heart disease, but the association is considered suspect because of the difficulty in separating the impact of unhealthy behaviors that often accompany coffee drinking—such as smoking and sitting in smoke-saturated cafés—from coffee drinking alone.

Protective effect 

Evidence for coffee’s protective effects against diabetes came in a study this January that found drinking coffee cuts the risk of type 2 diabetes—the type of diabetes that usually develops in middle age is linked to being overweight and is on the rise with obesity.

The study, by researchers from the Harvard School of Public Health in Boston, Massachusetts, found men who drank more than six cups of caffeinated coffee per day were 50% less likely to develop type 2 diabetes while women who drank this much coffee had an almost 30% reduced risk.

Conclusion

It's long been established that good nutrition, weight control and exercise are the best ways to prevent diabetes. The coffee effect might prove to be a healthy bonus from the daily jolt. Coffee consumption has been extensively studied in relation to various diseases, but not until recently has it been examined in relation to risk of type 2 diabetes.

Coffee is among the most widely consumed beverages in the world. Knowledge of both the positive and negative health effects of coffee is important to allow individuals to make informed choices regarding coffee consumption. In addition, data on the health effects of different coffee constituents and of different types of coffee can contribute to disease prevention. Coffee contains numerous substances; among them, caffeine, chlorogenic acid, quinides, and magnesium have been shown to affect glucose metabolism in animal or metabolic studies.

Currently, it is premature to recommend increasing coffee consumption as a public health strategy to prevent type 2 diabetes, and other health effects of coffee should also be considered.

References

1. Nathan DM. Long-term complications of diabetes mellitus. N Engl J Med. 1993;328:1676-1685
2. Tuomilehto J, Lindstrom J, Eriksson JG, et al. Prevention of type 2 diabetes mellitus by changes in lifestyle among subjects with impaired glucose tolerance. N Engl J Med. 2001;344:1343-1350
3. R.M. van Dam and F.B. Hu Medical biology: coffee consumption and type 2 diabetes (J. Am. Med. Assoc. 2005 294:97)
4. Salazar-Martinez, E., Willett, W.C., Ascherio, A., Manson, J.E., Leitzmann, M.F., Stampfer, M.J. and Hu, F.B. 2004. Coffee consumption and risk for type 2 diabetes mellitus. Annals of Internal Medicine, 140(1):1-8.
5. Lane, J.D., Barkauskas, C.E., Surwit, R.S. and Feinglos, M.N. 2004. Caffeine impairs glucose metabolism in type 2 diabetes. DiabetesCare. 27(8):2047-8.
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7. Kerr, D., Sherwin, R.S., Pavalkis, F., Fayad, P.B., Sikorski, L., Rife, F., Tamborlane, W.V. and During, M.J.1993. Effect of caffeine on the recognition of and responses to hypoglycemia in humans. Annals of Internal Medicine. 119(8):799-804.