Daily Archives: November 10, 2006

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Wendy Rigby
KENS 5 Eyewitness News
Drinking coffee may help protect you against diabetes. That’s the conclusion of an intriguing new medical study.
At “It’s a Grind,” Coffee House on Huebner Road, San Antonians sips on coffee while they work and read and talk.

The new study was published in the November issue of the journal Diabetes Care says drinking all of that coffee may have a protective affect.

Drinking caffeinated coffee reduced the risk of developing type 2 diabetes by as much as 60 percent. That included people at high risk of the disease.

Scientists say it’s not the caffeine, but probably some other complex organic compounds in the brew.

“It would be stretch to call coffee a vegetable, but actually, it’s from a bean and like tea is from a leaf, so basically, they are natural plant based products,” said Sue Cunningham, University of Texas Health Science Center professor of nutrition.

Researchers say it’s too soon to recommend sipping on a “cup of Joe” as a public health strategy. And the study did not account for other dietary habits.

But some diabetes doctors say their patients have enough to worry about, so it’s nice to know that coffee isn’t one of them — that it may actually help lower the risk.

“Any disease is multi-factorial. That means there’s lots and lots of causes, and we are just scratching the surface to know all of them. But this is a very interesting direction to go,” Cunningham said.

While drinking coffee may help you keep diabetes at bay that alone is probably not enough. Researchers believe the best ways to prevent diabetes are regular exercise five times a week, eating a low-fat diet and losing excess weight. Continue reading »