Planning to hit the local coffeehouse, or meet a friend for tea? Here’s another reason to reach for your favorite cup.
A large new scientific analysis of coffee and tea drinkers has found that these favorites—even the decaf versions – can help reduce your risk of type 2 diabetes.
The recent research, published in the Archives of Internal Medicine, found that every additional cup of coffee each day was associated with a seven percent reduction in the excess risk of diabetes.
The more tea or coffee a person consumed, the more diabetes risk declined. Drinking three to four cups a day meant about a 25 percent reduced diabetes risk when compared with those who drank between none and two cups day.
Even decaf made a difference.
Those who drank three to four cups of decaf coffee each day had about a one-third lower risk than people who didn’t drink any. And tea drinkers who sipped more than three to four cups a day had about a one-fifth lower diabetes risk than non-tea drinkers. Researchers, further detailing their findings, noted that an ingredient other than caffeine, such as magnesium or plant-based antioxidant compounds, might give coffee and tea properties that reduce diabetes risk.
The study, a type of scientific inquiry called a meta-analysis, is especially interesting because of its breadth. The findings were compiled from 18 individual studies that included almost 458,000 people and spanned more than 40 years, giving the research a particularly comprehensive perspective. Earlier research had pointed to similar benefits from coffee and tea, but this meta-analysis gives them greater credibility. It’s also important to note, though, that coffee or tea can cause health problems for some people, so it’s a good idea to talk to your doctor before dramatically increasing your daily cup count.
Type 2 diabetes is one of the most common health problems in the United States – more than 25 percent of American adults will develop the condition over the course of their lifetime. At Navigenics, we include genetic predisposition for type 2 diabetes in our genetic testing service, as about 64 percent of a person’s risk is genetic.
But everyday choices, such as diet, also play a big role. Knowing your genetic predisposition can help guide those decisions. And when you are making a choice about what to drink, this research indicates, adding in coffee or tea may do more than get you going in the morning—it may give your health a boost as well.
b Mar 26, 2010
There are several tests to measure glucose level in blood and urine to confirm presence of diabetes. These tests also help detect the presence of ketones which are formed due to absence of adequate insulin.