A new study has revealed that consuming at least four cups of coffee a day can reduce the risk of type 2 diabetes, it has emerged. The research, by scientists at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) and published in the journal Diabetes, uncovered a protein called sex hormone-binding globulin (SHBG) that was a factor in the development of type 2 diabetes .
The researchers showed that women who drank at least four cups of coffee a day were less than half as likely to develop diabetes as non-coffee drinkers, and that SHBG could be a possible molecular mechanism responsible for coffee’s beneficial effect.
A previous study from a couple of years ago in the New England Journal of Medicine had also found greater levels of SHBG in the blood was associated with a lower risk of developing type 2 diabetes.
However, Atsushi Goto the lead author of this study commented “Consumption of decaffeinated coffee was not significantly associated with SHBG levels, nor diabetes risk. So you probably have to go for the octane.”
These findings are opposed to a 2006 study in the Archives of Internal Medicine that revealed that women who consumed six cups of decaffeinated coffee per day experienced a 22 per cent less risk of developing type 2 diabetes compared with those who didn’t drink any coffee .

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