Medical News: Coffee -- The New Health Food?
Posted on Wednesday, August 23 @ 00:00:00 CDT
Topic: Medical News
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 Like many adults in their Middle Ages, I try to be
health-conscious. I watch my weight (rising like gas prices), eat
healthy and take my vitamins and supplements. Except for the bone and
joint problems, I am basically healthy. There are absolutely no signs
of heart disease or cancer. I have inherited Diabetes from my mother’s
side of the family. Granny was on insulin, but I have managed to stay
away from medications and injections by watching my blood sugar and
keeping my diabetes under control with diet and exercise.
You can imagine my interest when I learned of a study conducted by
researchers at the University of Minnesota School of Public Health.
These researchers found drinking decaffeinated coffee may lower an
individual’s risk for type 2 diabetes. Okay, we know that decaf just
doesn’t have the same flavor and palatability that the regular,
rich-bodied roast has, but lowering the risk for diabetes is a definite
plus in its favor.
Published in the June 26, 2006 issue of Archives of Internal Medicine,
the Minnesota study shows postmenopausal women who daily consume more
than six cups of coffee (Yeah!), particularly decaffeinated, have a 33
percent lower risk of developing type 2 diabetes than women who do not
drink coffee. The data is based on an Iowa Women’s Health Study
(1986-1997) that involved 28,812 postmenopausal women who did not have
type 2 diabetes or cardiovascular disease. Researchers examined the
coffee intake and diabetes risk, and over the 11-year period, only
1,418 women reported being newly diagnosed with the illness.
What about tea and soft drinks, known to be high in caffeine? Coffee is
known to contain minerals and antioxidants that may aid in carbohydrate
metabolism and insulin sensitivity and possibly delay the onset of type
2 diabetes. Overall caffeine intake did not appear to be related to
diabetes risk in this study, further suggesting that another ingredient
was responsible for the reduction.
“There appears to be great potential for coffee to help reduce the risk
of diabetes. Identifying the mechanism responsible for this should
definitely be the subject of further research,” said Mark Pereira,
Ph.D., lead author and associate professor at the University of
Minnesota School of Public Health. “Having a healthy diet, controlling
your weight, and exercising are essential to preventing the onset of
diabetes, but drinking coffee has the potential to further reduce risk
of diabetes. It may be necessary to rethink the idea that drinking
coffee does more harm than good.”
According to statistics, over 20 million Americans have diabetes, with
6.2 million cases undiagnosed. Individuals with the illness either do
not produce enough insulin for the body to process sugar or their cells
ignore the insulin that is produced. However, coffee does contain
antioxidants and minerals that may aid in insulin sensitivity and
carbohydrate metabolism and may possibly delay the onset of type 2
diabetes.
In this study, higher coffee intake was also associated with lower body
mass index (BMI) and rates of hypertension, as well as increased rates
of alcohol consumption and smoking. Women who drank more coffee also
ate less fruit and low-fat dairy products. Now, remember, the women who
participated in this study were in the category of heavy coffee
drinkers, imbibing 6 cups or more of Joe per day. I don’t imagine that
the AMA is going to start endorsing coffee drinking right away, but if
you are like me, with a family history of type 2 diabetes, a few extra
cups (even if it is decaf) sounds like a healthy choice.
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