Feb 2012: New Research Suggests that Moderate Coffee Consumption Lowers The Risk of Type 2 Diabetes

A new prospective cohort study amongst 42,659 participants suggests that coffee consumption may be linked to a lower risk of type 2 diabetes.¹ Results from this study also suggest that coffee consumption does not increase the risk of chronic disease, such as cardiovascular disease (heart attack and stroke) and cancer.¹

These results are important as:

• Diabetes is one of the biggest health challenges facing the UK today² and there are 2.61 million people currently diagnosed with type 2 diabetes in the UK, with an estimated 765,000people who have the condition but don’t know it³
• Before the age of 75, more than one in four deaths in men and one in five deaths in women are from cardiovascular disease⁴
• There are over 300,000 cases of cancer in the UK every year⁵

Dr Euan Paul, Executive Director of the British Coffee Association, commented, “This study adds to the growing scientific data that suggests moderate coffee consumption, 4 – 5 cups of coffee per day, is safe and does not increase the risk of a range of chronic disease.  It is particularly encouraging to see that coffee consumption may lower the risk of type II diabetes given that around 90% of all adults in the UK with diabetes have type 2 diabetes.”⁶

As advised by the NHS, pregnant women should moderate their intake of caffeine to 200mg per day from all sources.⁷ 

References

1. A Floegel et al. Coffee consumption and risk of chronic disease in the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition (EPIC)- Germany study, American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 2012. doi:10.3945/ajcn.111.023648 
2. Diabetes UK, http://www.diabetes.org.uk/Documents/Reports/Diabetes_in_the_UK_2010.pdf accessed February 2012
3. Diabetes UK, http://www.diabetes.org.uk/Guide-to-diabetes/Introduction-to-diabetes/What_is_diabetes/ accessed February 2012
4. Coronary Heart Disease Statistics 2010. British Heart Foundation
5. World Cancer Research Fund, http://www.wcrf-uk.org/research/cancer_statistics/index.php accessed February 2012
6. NHS Choics, http://www.nhs.uk/conditions/diabetes/pages/diabetes.aspx accessed February 2012
7. NHS Choices, http://www.nhs.uk/Planners/pregnancycareplanner/pages/Healthinpregnancyhome.aspx Accessed February 2012