Can Drinking Coffee Reduce the Risk of Diabetes?
Encouraging news for us coffee lovers - a recent study has looked into a possible link between high blood caffeine levels, reduced body weight and a lowered risk of type 2 diabetes.
The study, published by BMJ Medicine, gathered data from nearly 10,000 people of predominantly European ancestry in order to analyse the roles of two common genetic variants of the CYP1A2 and AHR genes, which are associated with caffeine metabolism in the body.
Taken from six long-term studies, the results pointed promisingly towards evidence that a high blood caffeine level in a person may reduce body weight and reduce the risk of type 2 diabetes.
The senior author of the study, Dr Dipender Gill of Imperial College London’s School of Public Health, said: “These findings offer important insight into the potential causal effect of caffeine on adiposity [obesity] and diabetes risk."
Using a statistical technique known as Mendelian randomisation, which examines how certain behaviours and environments lead to specific health outcomes based on genetic differences, the research demonstrated that higher genetically predicted blood caffeine levels were associated with both a lower body weight (BMI) and with a lower risk of type 2 diabetes.
The results of this recent study appear to be aligned with certain previous research, which indicated that drinking 3-5 cups of coffee a day can be associated with a lower risk of type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease.