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Drinking more coffee linked to lower type 2 diabetes risk

The study also found people who decreased how much coffee they drank by more than an a 8-ounce cup per day increased their type 2 diabetes risk by 17 percent.

By Alex Cukan
People who drank at least one more cup of coffee per day over a four-year period had more than a 10 percent lower risk of type 2 diabetes. (UPI Photo/Stephen Shaver)
People who drank at least one more cup of coffee per day over a four-year period had more than a 10 percent lower risk of type 2 diabetes. (UPI Photo/Stephen Shaver) | License Photo

BOSTON, April 25 (UPI) -- People who drank at least one more cup of coffee per day over a four-year period had more than a 10 percent lower risk of type 2 diabetes, according to a new study. Lead author Shilpa Bhupathiraju, a research fellow at the Harvard School of Public Health, said the research team analyzed caffeinated and decaffeinated coffee consumption, as well as caffeinated tea consumption, of more than 48,000 women in the Brigham and Women’s Hospital-based Nurses’ Health Study from 1986 to 2006.

In addition, the researchers analyzed similar data on 47,510 women in Nurses’ Health Study II from 1991 to 2007, and 27,759 men in the Health Professionals Follow-up Study from 1986 to 2006. During the course of the studies there were 7,269 cases of type 2 diabetes.

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The study, published online in Diabetologia, the journal of the European Association for the Study of Diabetes, found those who increased the amount of caffeinated coffee they drank each day by more than one cup over a four-year period had a 11 percent lower risk of developing type 2 diabetes than those who made no changes in how much coffee they drunk.

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The study also found people who decreased how much coffee they drank by more than an a 8-ounce cup per day increased their type 2 diabetes risk by 17 percent.

However, decaffeinated coffee consumption changes and caffeinated tea consumption changes were not linked to changes in type 2 diabetes risk.

"Our findings confirm those of previous studies that showed that higher coffee consumption was associated with lower type 2 diabetes risk,” Bhupathiraju said in a statement. “Most importantly, they provide new evidence that changes in coffee consumption habit can affect type 2 diabetes risk in a relatively short period of time.”

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