Decaffeinated coffee found to cut risk of contracting diabetes

June 28, 2006 Edition 1

New York – Consumption of coffee, particularly the decaffeinated variety, is associated with a reduced risk of diabetes, according to a report in the Archives of Internal Medicine.

In previous studies it was unclear if the relationship was true among people of different ages and body weights and if the caffeine component was the ingredient primarily responsible for the anti-diabetes effect.

Dr Mark A Pereira, from the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis, and colleagues addressed these uncertainties by analysing data from 28 812 women who enrolled in a study which ran from 1986 to 1997. All the women were free from diabetes and heart disease when the study began.

The subjects were divided into groups based on the amount of coffee they drank: none, less than one cup, one to three cups, four to five cups, or six or more cups per day. During follow-up, 1 418 of the women were diagnosed with diabetes.

Women who drank the most coffee were 22% less likely to develop diabetes than the group that drank no coffee, the report indicates. Further analysis showed that this association, which remained relatively stable by age and body weight groups, was largely accounted for by intake of decaffeinated coffee. – Reuters