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Coffee-Drinking 'Can Cut Diabetes Risk'

Coffee-Drinking 'Can Cut Diabetes Risk'

Drinking more coffee could lead to an "immediate" reduction in diabetes risk, research has found.

Scientists said upping intake by more than one cup a day was linked to an 11% lower risk of developing Type 2 diabetes over the next four years.

But cutting consumption by at least one cup had the opposite effect, raising diabetes risk by 17%.

The research team found people drinking three cups or more were 37% less likely to develop Type 2 diabetes than those consuming one cup or less.

The study, involving almost 124,000 men and women, adds to previous evidence linking coffee with protection from diabetes.

The benefit was only found with caffeinated coffee - possibly because few participants drank decaf.

The authors, led by Professor of Nutrition Frank Hu, from the Harvard School of Public Health in the US, wrote in the journal Diabetologia: "The findings of the current study... demonstrate that change in coffee consumption is associated with both immediate and long-term diabetes risk.

"Changes in coffee consumption habits appear to affect diabetes risk in a relatively short amount of time."

For the latest research, scientists analysed the results of three large US diet and lifestyle investigations involving health professionals: the Nurses' Health Study, the Nurses' Health Study II, and the Health Professionals Follow-Up Study.

Participants had their diets assessed every four years by a questionnaire to identify those who developed Type 2 diabetes, with a total of 7,269 cases of diabetes recorded.

There was no evidence tea consumption had a similar effect on diabetes risk - possibly due to the low number of people who drank tea or altered their tea consumption.

Dr Richard Elliott from Diabetes UK urged people to treat the findings with caution.

He said: "While this study found evidence of a connection between how much coffee you drink and your risk of Type 2 diabetes, this does not mean that increasing your coffee intake will reduce your diabetes risk.

"Even if people who drank more coffee did tend to have a lower risk of Type 2, it does not necessarily follow that coffee consumption was directly responsible."

More than two million people in the UK have diagnosed Type 2 diabetes.

The disease occurs when the body produces too little insulin or fails to respond to the hormone properly, raising blood sugar.