How drinking coffee may lower your risk for diabetes

[BootinUp]

Decades ago, many scientists believed that drinking coffee was bad for your health. But coffee has experienced a remarkable turnaround. Study after study has found that enjoying a daily cup or two of Joe — either caffeinated or decaffeinated — may lengthen your life span and lower risk for chronic disease.

One of the most striking findings is that coffee drinkers are less prone to developing Type 2 diabetes. Many large studies have found that people who drink three to four cups of coffee daily have about a 25 percent lower risk of the disease compared with people who drink little or no coffee. Your likelihood of developing diabetes decreases about 6 percent for each cup of coffee you consume daily — but only up to about six cups.

Many of the studies on coffee and health come with an important caveat. They are usually large observational studies, which show correlations — not cause and effect. This means that it’s possible that something else could explain the findings. Perhaps coffee drinkers also are more likely to exercise more, drink less alcohol, eat healthier diets or engage in other habits that boost their health.

But there are other reasons to believe that the findings are not a mirage. Coffee’s protective effect against diabetes persists even when scientists take these other lifestyle behaviors into account. The effect has been found in dozens of studies involving more than a million participants across Europe, North America and Asia. It’s been found in women and men, in young and old people, in smokers and nonsmokers, and in people with and without obesity.

Gift Link Washington Post

[EYESORE 9001]

1. I'm trying to recall a time when I didn't have at least two cups of coffee per day

Guess I’d better get busy on that third cup.

[BootinUp]

2. great meme, lol.

[Srkdqltr]

3. Yes but but.. coffee is the devil. Coffee is awful for you. Or not.

A while ago it was eggs are awful.

[tanyev]

4. Maybe people drinking 3-4 cups of coffee daily are not drinking 3-4 sugary caffeinated sodas daily.

[BootinUp]

6. I often question these kind of stories that way myself, and truth

be told I didn't read the whole thing. But I did see where the writer through in some similar caveats himself. There are many positive reports about coffee at this point. I am not so skeptical of them. And I am a skeptic.

[tanyev]

7. Yeah, it'd be great if it's true.

I'm old enough now to have seen several rounds of media hullabaloo about the healthiest things to eat that turned out to be completely wrong, that I'm constantly skeptical. This country is still paying the price for the 1980s obsession with all fat = bad and lots of pasta = good.

[Maraya1969]

11. I remember asking this guy, years ago how he could wake up without drinking coffee

and he said he drank cans of coca cola. I never thought about how bad that was until just now.

[Elessar Zappa]

5. I've also heard

it helps to prevent liver disease in alcoholics. Not sure if that’s been confirmed though.

[Maraya1969]

12. The old coffee enema is specifically used to detox the liver. I've done one or two

in years past among other wild treatments I have tried over the years.

I don't have any information about if or how well it works for detoxification but just doing an enema is detoxification.

[TexLaProgressive]

8. I am skeptical of these claims when I cannot read the study papers

So called science reporters are prone to cherry picking bits and pieces that give a false narrative. This has caused the general population to not believe anything about anything.

Coffee is good bad good bad, change coffee to eggs, saturated fats or whatever.

When I can actually read scientific papers after reading an article on the study, often the hype is obvious.

[Simeon Salus]

9. It's entirely possible that coffee, containing stimulants, raises the metabolism sufficiently

to cause a better reaction to sugars. I always prefer coffee when I'm eating a donut or sugary pastry; it seems to neutralize the sweet taste in a pleasant way.

[Baitball Blogger]

10. It would be wrong to say that coffee is the silver bulllet for proper health.

I know, because I experienced the full gamut.

When I ate and exercised poorly, coffee actually sped up the symptoms that debilitated me. I called it blood sugar drops. Maybe I was borderline diabetic, but it never got far enough to require medical intervention. I just recovered on my own by limiting myself to four to six ounces of coffee a day. And then I went on a big health kick, exercising more, taking vitamin supplements and eating better.

Now I am so healthy that I can sip up to four cups of a coffee throughout the morning without any deleterious effects. And, yes, I am more alert and energetic enough to continue my exercise regime. So I agree with the following quote:

"Perhaps coffee drinkers also are more likely to exercise more, drink less alcohol, eat healthier diets or engage in other habits that boost their health."