Coffee May Prevent the Onset of Type II diabetes
It’s no real news that diabetes is on the rise. The American Diabetes Association says that there are 23.7 million diabetic people living in America alone. It’s estimated that 25 years from now that number will be 44 million. The vast majority of these cases are type II diabetes. However, there is some good news. Over the past decade, several studies have indicated that drinking coffee may decrease some people’s chances of getting type II diabetes.
Recently a research team in Australia examined 18 regarding how much coffee was consumed by people with or and without type II diabetes, and found something interesting. They confirmed that people who drank coffee had a lower risk of getting type II diabetes, but they also discovered that the more coffee the participants in the study drank, the less risk of diabetes they had. People who drank two cups of coffee a day were 14% less to get diabetes than people who drank no coffee at all, while those who drank 5 cups a day were 35% less likely to get it. The same results occurred whether the coffee had caffeine or not.
No one has yet identified why this is true, but it could be from the antioxidants in coffee. A study conducted in 2005 at the University of Scranton in Pennsylvania named coffee as America’s number one source of antioxidants. This doesn’t mean they have the most antioxidants, but simply that they are the ones most consumed by Americans. Still, the antioxidants in coffee look to be one major source of deterring type II diabetes.
There are still some drawbacks. For one thing, the studies give no information on how coffee consumption affects those who already have type II diabetes, so if you already have it, guzzling down cup after cup of coffee certainly isn’t going to replace your medication. It also won’t replace exercise, eating nutrient rich fruits and vegetables, and keeping your weight down.
Beating type II diabetes, whether you have it or are trying to avoid getting it, requires a healthy lifestyle. You can’t do it with coffee alone. But it’s nice to know that indulging in a good cup of coffee not only doesn’t hurt, but can help.
brewed on Feb 2nd, 2010
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