Drinking coffee could lower diabetes risk

A fresh report from the Archives of Internal Medicine indicates that drinking coffee, especially decaffeinated, could reduce the risk of developing diabetes. The association has been clearly made before, yet not across a range of different ages and body weights . Furthermore, previous studies did not indicate whether caffeine was the active component in reducing the risk.
An expert from the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis, together with a team of colleagues, has analysed the data from just fewer than 30,000 women . The study group were enrolled in the Iowa Women’s Health Study, which terminated in 1997. The women were all free from diabetes and heart diseases at the start of the study.
The team found that those women who consumed the most coffee were 22 per cent less likely to develop diabetes than the group who drank no coffee. Decaffeinated coffee, as opposed to regular coffee, was particularly effective. Caffeine intake, magnesium and phytate were not responsible for the protective effect.
Exercise and diet remain the most important methods to stave off the development of type 2 diabetes, yet these most recent findings could have health significance.