One More Cup Away from Diabetes

Well, looks like coffee's done it again. As if we needed another reason to grab a second cup of joe in the morning, now you'll have good reason -- one for the kick and one to help fight diabetes! The Harvard School of Public Health has done a series of studies uncovering the health benefits of coffee for preventing diabetes. In the well-known Nurses' Health Study, they looked at 982 diabetic and 1,058 non-diabetic women without cardiovascular disease. 'They wanted to see if the beneficial effects of coffee on metabolism were from changes in the hormone adiponectin,' said Jonathan Galland, health writer for HuffPost Healthy Living. Adiponectin is key in that it promotes insulin sensitivity which protects individuals against Type 2 diabetes. What they found was women who had four or more cups of coffee per day 'had significantly higher adiponectin' than those who did not drink coffee regularly. Across the world, scientists in Germany, Finland and Denmark have been raving about the benefits of increasing one's coffee intake to improve cholesterol levels and blood levels of inflammatory compounds. Referring to the European scientists studies in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 'Coffee consumption appears to have favorable effects on some markers of sub-clinical inflammation and oxidative stress and to increase plasma concentrations of potential biomarkers of coffee intake.' In Layman's terms, since subclinical inflammation is a risk factor for type 2 diabetes , coffee mediates and reduces the risk of type 2 diabetes amongst people who drink coffee habitually for years. But it's not only caffeinated coffee that helps prevent diabetes, studies have shown that decaf may have the same positive affects also! It's not necessarily the caffeine that gives individuals the health benefits, Frank Hu, MD, MPH, PhD, nutrition and epidemiology professor at the Harvard School of Public Health explains to WebMD. Coffee is jam packed with other nutrients, such as antioxidants, that he says contribute to, 'the whole package.' Antioxidants help prevent tissue damage caused by molecules called oxygen-free radicals. Coffee also is full of minerals (i.e. magnesium and chromium) that helps the body use the hormone insulin, which controls blood sugar (glucose). In type 2 diabetes, the body loses its ability to use insulin and regulate blood sugar effectively. So if you've been looking for an excuse on which to pawn off your java addiction, now you've got a few health points to reference! Sip that second (or third or fourth) cup of the day and ruminate on how well you're treating your body -- and your taste buds.