More Evidence Coffee Protects from Diabetes;
Caffeine Probably the Cause
Encouraging news for seniors who are
major targets of diabetes and love coffee
June 8, 2010 - Several studies have indicated
that drinking coffee tends to offer protection from type 2 diabetes. A
new study shows that caffeine is probably the ingredient largely
responsible for this protection. It is great news for senior citizens,
the major targets of diabetes, who rate coffee as their favorite drink.
The findings, among the first animal studies to
demonstrate this apparent link, appear in ACS' bi-weekly Journal of
Agricultural and Food Chemistry.
Positive impact of caffeine on cognition and memory
performance, other benefits of caffeine in special supplement to the
Journal of Alzheimer's Disease - (Amsterdam) May 17, 2010
Fumihiko Horio and colleagues note that past
studies have suggested that regular coffee drinking may reduce the risk
of type 2 diabetes. The disease affects millions in the United States
and is on the rise worldwide. However, little of that evidence comes
from studies on lab animals used to do research that cannot be done in
humans.
The scientists fed either water or coffee to a
group of laboratory mice commonly used to study diabetes.
Coffee consumption prevented the development of
high-blood sugar and also improved insulin sensitivity in the mice,
thereby reducing the risk of diabetes.
Coffee also caused a cascade of other beneficial
changes in the fatty liver and inflammatory adipocytokines related to a
reduced diabetes risk.
Additional, the lab studies showed that caffeine
may be "one of the most effective anti-diabetic compounds in coffee,"
the scientists say.
These results suggest that coffee exerts a
suppressive effect on hyperglycemia by improving insulin sensitivity,
partly due to reducing inflammatory cytokine and improving fatty liver.
Moreover, caffeine may be one of the effective antidiabetic compounds in
coffee.
Coffee is among the most widely consumed beverages
in the world. In 2002, results from a Dutch study indicated that higher
coffee consumption was associated with a lower risk of type 2 diabetes.
This finding was confirmed in subsequent studies.
Coffee contains numerous substances; among them,
caffeine, chlorogenic acid, quinides, trigonelline, and lignan have been
shown to affect glucose metabolism in animals or metabolic studies. It
has not been determined, however, which of these substances is the main
antidiabetic compound in coffee.
The potential for suppression of hyperglycemia
through a common beverage such as coffee could develop into a strategy
to prevent type 2 diabetes, according to the researchers.
Coffee, the favorite drink of senior citizens, sure
to get more popular with discovery of the memory recovery power of five cups
a day that reduces beta-amyloid protein in blood
June 8, 2010 - Several studies have indicated
that drinking coffee tends to offer protection from type 2 diabetes. A
new study shows that caffeine is probably the ingredient largely
responsible for this protection. It is great news for senior citizens,
the major targets of diabetes, who rate coffee as their favorite drink.
