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27 June, (foodconsumer.org) - Drinking massive amounts of coffee could cut the risk of type 2 diabetes, according to a new study. Coffee consumption reduced the diabetes risk in women in a 11-year study. However it was the antioxidants and not caffeine in the coffee that did the trick.

The researchers said that the risk of diabetes was reduced most in participants who preferred decaffeinated coffee. Postmenopausal women who reported drinking more than six cups of java daily were found to have a 22 percent lower risk of developing type 2 diabetes, according to the researchers at the University of Minnesota School of Public Health.

"Although the first line of prevention for diabetes is exercise and diet, in light of the popularity of coffee consumption and high rates of type 2 diabetes mellitus in older adults, these findings may carry high public health significance," the researchers wrote in the study published in the June 26 issue of Archives of Internal Medicine.

The researchers tracked prospective data from the Iowa Women's Health Study. They collected data on 28,812 postmenopausal women who answered questions about risk factors for diabetes such as age, body mass index, physical activity and smoking. Their beverage drinking habits were also noted.

More than 14,200 women in the study reported drinking one to three daily cups of coffee, while 2,900 others reported no coffee consumption. Only 2,800 reported drinking more than six cups of coffee daily.

The follow-up period was between 1986 through 1997. Adjusting the risk factors, the researchers found that women who drank more than six cups a day of any type of coffee were 22 percent less likely to develop type 2 diabetes than those who avoided coffee completely.

Additionally women who preferred decaf coffee saw their risk drop by 33 percent. "In our study, for whatever reason, it doesn't look like caffeine has anything to do with it," said lead researcher Mark A. Pereira.

"When you get up to four or five or more cups per day, you might have very powerful antioxidant activity. That might be important for protecting the pancreas' beta cells from oxidant damage."

During 11 years of follow-up, there were 1,418 incident cases of diabetes in the study. Researchers theorized that coffee is rich in magnesium and thus controlled this mineral in the diet, but even then the lowered risk could not be explained.

They also found no association between levels of phytate (phytic acid, a natural plant antioxidant) and diabetes risk.
"Unfortunately, typical nutritional data sources such as ours do not include the vast, although poorly understood, phytochemicals and other components of plant-based foods and beverages," Dr. Pereira and colleagues wrote.

"Therefore, with the exception of phytate, which was not associated with diabetes risk in our study, we were unable to assess the possibility that these naturally occurring chemicals might explain the link between coffee intake and diabetes risk."

But they acknowledge that the study was observational, meaning that no effort was made to get the women to change their coffee drinking habits. Therefore it is not completely certain that coffee wards of the risk for type 2 diabetes.

Rob van Dam, a research scientist at the Harvard School of Public Health said that these findings were not surprising. Dam was a part of the team, which had first reported the protective effect of coffee in 2002.

“We found exactly the same protective effect of decaffeinated coffee," van Dam said. "People think that if coffee causes it, it must be the caffeine, but coffee is a very complex mixture."

About Type 2 Diabetes
* It is the most common form of diabetes. In type 2 diabetes, either the body does not produce enough insulin or the cells ignore the insulin.

* Around 90 to 95 percent of those affected have type 2 diabetes, a condition characterized by failure of the pancreatic beta cells to adequately respond to the increased demands for insulin that occur as a result of obesity-related insulin resistance.

* Some complications of type 2 diabetes include: heart disease (cardiovascular disease), blindness (retinopathy), nerve damage (neuropathy), and kidney damage (nephropathy).

* One million amputations each year are caused by diabetes. A diabetes sufferer is up to 40 times more likely to need a lower-limb amputation when compared to a person who does not have diabetes.

* It is predicted that the number of diabetes sufferers will hit the 350 million mark by 2025.

* Diabetes accounts for 5 percent to 10 percent of most nations' health budgets.

* It is estimated that at least 20 million in the United States are suffering from the disease.

* Diabetes is the sixth leading cause of death by disease in the US and costs approximately $132 billion per year in direct and indirect medical expenses.

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