Finnish Study Supports Anti-Diabetes Effect for Coffee
NEW YORK - Mar 09 - In agreement with previous reports, coffee consumption is inversely associated with the risk of type 2 diabetes, according to a study conducted in Finland, the world's biggest per capita consumer of coffee.
Although coffee is the most consumed beverage in the world and diabetes is a very common disease, relatively few studies have looked at the link between two, Dr. Jaako Tuomilehto, from National Public Health Institute in Helsinki, and colleagues note.
In January, US researchers reported that intake of coffee or other caffeinated beverages seemed to protect against diabetes. A similar association was observed in a Dutch study released in 2002.
As reported in the Journal of the American Medical Association for March 10th, Dr. Tuomilehto's team analyzed data from surveys conducted in 1982, 1987, and 1992 to assess the link between coffee intake and diabetes in 6974 men and 7655 women. The subjects were free of diabetes, heart disease, and stroke at baseline.
During an average follow-up period of 12 years, 381 subjects were diagnosed with type 2 diabetes, the authors note.
In both genders, the risk of diabetes decreased as daily coffee intake increased, but the trend only reached statistical significance in women (p < 0.001). Compared with their peers who drank 0 to 2 cups of coffee per day, men and women who drank at least 10 cups daily (the highest quintile of intake) were 55% and 79% less likely, respectively, to develop diabetes.
In the analysis combining both sexes, the inverse link between coffee intake and diabetes risk was statistically significant (p < 0.001) and persisted after accounting for a variety of factors, such as weight, smoking status, alcohol use, and consumption of filtered or nonfiltered coffee.
Exactly how coffee drinking protects against diabetes is unclear, the researchers state. "Several components of coffee may affect glucose regulation, such as chlorogenic acid on glucose-6-phosphatse, antioxidant activity of polyphenols on alpha-glucosidase, caffeine on insulin secretion of pancreatic beta cells, cumulative effects of phytoestrogens, and magnesium, which are suggested as the biological basis of our findings."
JAMA 2004;291:1213-1219.
Submitted by Pasadena Phil
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