How many of you are nursing a cup of coffee or tea or guzzling a
can of diet cola as you read this? (I admit, I just polished off
a glass of Diet Coke myself!) This week, we’ll take a closer
look at how caffeine may affect diabetes. If you (or a loved
one) are at high risk of getting diabetes, you may want to
include a cup of joe in your daily routine. Several studies have
shown that folks who drink coffee have a lower risk of getting
Type 2 diabetes than those who don’t. One study, published in
The Journal of the American Medical Association in 2004, looked
at almost 15,000 Finnish people over 12 years. None of the
people had diabetes at the start of the study. At the end of the
study period, researchers discovered that those who drank at
least 10 cups of coffee every day had the lowest risk of
diabetes, compared to those who drank very little or no coffee.
Then, in 2006, a study published in Diabetes Care followed about
900 adults with prediabetes for eight years. Those who drank
caffeinated coffee had a 60