New large study documents that coffee and tea reduce the risk of type 2 diabetes. According to the Danish diabetes research institute, it is not yet known which drugs give the beneficial effect.
A cup of coffee or two can have several beneficial effects. One of them is protection against type 2 diabetes.
The number of type 2 diabetes sufferers is increasing every year. The disease is often associated with obesity and is found in at least 2% of the population, and it is estimated that by 2025, 10% of the population will be afflicted with the disease, also called old-man diabetes.
Several studies have previously shown that a few cups of coffee a day could reduce the risk of developing type 2 diabetes. Now a major Australian meta-study has confirmed the results, as has the same connection with tea.
Australian researchers from The George Institute for International Health have reviewed a number of studies on the relationship between type 2 diabetes and the use of coffee and tea.
The many surveys were conducted in the years 1966 and 2009 and have a total of almost one million people. The study has just been published in the renowned medical journal Archives of Internal Medicine.
»The protective effect of drinking tea and coffee appears to be independent of a number of potentially misleading background variables. It increases the likelihood of a direct biological effect, ‘the Australian researchers wrote in the article.
Studies of tea in Japan
As the researchers analyzed their results, they could see that every extra cup of coffee a day reduced the risk by 7 percent. Those who drank 3-4 cups a day were at 25 percent less risk than those who drank zero to two. 3-4 cups of decaffeinated coffee even reduced the risk by a third.
Tea, according to the study, was also beneficial; it reduced the risk by 20 percent compared to those who did not drink tea at all.
The Danish diabetes researcher Allan Flyvbjerg, a professor at the Department of Medical Endocrinology, Aarhus University Hospital and chairman of the Diabetes Association, calls the results exciting. He says many previous studies have shown a similar relationship to coffee.
“There is what I would call massive evidence that moderate coffee consumption reduces the risk of type 2 diabetes,” he says.
The discovery of the beneficial effect of tea, on the other hand, is quite new, he says.
“A brand new Japanese study from October has also just been published with 6,000 men and 8,000 women, which have been followed for a long time. Their study was based on different types of tea, and there was also a correlation with reduced risk of type 2 diabetes, ”says Allan Flyvbjerg.
Pill barely on the stairs
Diabetes researchers still do not know exactly which drugs coffee or tea provide a protective effect.
“You have a big question mark because in these studies there is always a risk of sources of error. Therefore, you would rather not just lean on one study, but gather a lot of analysis. And here we see that everyone, perhaps two to three, shows a dramatically reduced risk of diabetes, ”says Allan Flyvbjerg.
“And it is interesting that it is seen with and without caffeine as well as in tea. So there is something in these drinks that counteract diabetes, and from a scientific point of view it could be very interesting to find out what the drugs are, ”he adds.
According to Allan Flyvbjerg, there are several components that can be included, such as magnesium or certain antioxidants. But since you do not know for sure, a pill containing the beneficial substances is not exactly on the stairs.
“At first, we can just say that moderate coffee consumption is fine, and then people can enjoy their cup of coffee. After all, it tastes better than eating a tablet, ”he says.
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On a side note, there are many positive aspects of drinking coffee. Recently it was discovered it helps against skin cancer!
We have written an article about it here, in case you wishes to read about it: Coffee counteracts skin cancer
If you could be interested in some de-caf coffee, I recommend checking out Amazon, where you can a good selection of decaf coffees.