Coffee Drinking Lowers Type 2 Diabetes Risk For Postmenopausal Women

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Main Category: Diabetes
Also Included In: Nutrition / Diet;  Women's Health / Gynecology;  Public Health
Article Date: 27 Jun 2006 - 12:00 PDT


Postmenopausal women who drink coffee regularly have a lower risk of developing type 2 diabetes when compared to women who never drink coffee, say researchers from the University of Minnesota School of Public Health. Apparently, the health benefit is even more marked if the coffee is decaffeinated.

According to Mark Pereira, Ph.D. and team, postmenopausal women who consumed six cups of coffee or more each day lowered their chances of developing type 2 diabetes by 22%. The scientists found that the diabetes risk continued to drop as regular consumption increased.

You can read about this in the Archives of Internal Medicine.

The researchers stressed that the first line of prevention for diabetes is exercise, diet and weight control. However, in light of the popularity of coffee consumption and the high rates of type 2 diabetes mellitus in older people, these new finding may be of significance from a public health point of view.

It is not the caffeine that offers the protection, say the researchers. They found that the women in their study who consumed caffeine from other sources - not coffee - did not experience anywhere near the same benefit as those who drank coffee. They also found that women who regularly drink decaf experience an even lower diabetes 2 risk.

The researchers checked the data on 28,812 postmenopausal women dated from 1986 to 1997. All of them were free of diabetes and cardiovascular disease at the beginning of the period.

During the eleven-year period 1,418 women developed diabetes. After taking into account such factors as demographics, total body weight and lifestyles, they found that those who consumed six or more cups of coffee per day were 22% less likely to develop diabetes 2 - compared to those who never drank coffee.

The regular decaf drinkers had significantly lower chances of developing diabetes 2 than everyone else, including drinkers of coffee with caffeine.

Included in the research team were:
-- Mark A. Pereira, PhD
-- Emily D. Parker, MPH
-- Aaron R. Folsom, MD

"Coffee Consumption and Risk of Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus"
Arch Intern Med. 2006;166:1311-1316.
Click here to see the abstract.

Written by: Christian Nordqvist
Editor: Medical News Today
Copyright: Medical News Today
Not to be reproduced without permission of Medical News Today

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