Campus Life

Health Shorts: Coffee may lower your risk of developing diabetes

Cappuccino, latte, cafe au lait or just plain old American coffee -- if you like it, drink up and you may be protecting yourself from diabetes. Australian Rachel Huxley and her colleagues analyzed 18 previously published studies involving 457,932 subjects and found that persons drinking three or four cups of coffee a day had a 25 percent lower risk of developing diabetes compared to subjects drinking two cups or less. Drinkers of decaffeinated coffee had a comparable reduced risk, as did tea drinkers.

Compounds in coffee and tea that could be responsible for the reduced risk include magnesium, antioxidants known as lignans and chlorogenic acids.

[SOURCE: “Coffee and tea drinkers at lower risk of diabetes,” Tufts Health & Nutrition Letter, March, 2010]

Last Updated April 20, 2010

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