Coffee keeps diabetes away

A new study suggests that increasing coffee consumption may decrease the risk for type 2 diabetes. Previous studies have found that drinking a few cups or more each day may lower this risk.

People who upped their consumption by more than a cup per day had an 11% lower risk of type 2 diabetes compared with people whose consumption held constant.

The data is based on an analysis of more than 120.000 health professionals. Researchers looked at the study participants' coffee drinking habits across four years to reach their conclusions.

"For type 2 diabetes, up to six cups per day is associated with lower risk", said Shilpa Bhupathiraju, a research fellow at the Harvard School of Public Health.

"As long as coffee doesn't give you tremors, doesn't make you jittery, it is associated with a lot of health benefits".

Coffee drinking linked to longer life but the type of coffee matters! Lattes and other types of specialty drinks were not studied. A simple eight-ounce cup of black coffee containing about 100 milligrams of caffeine is the one recommended.

"We are not talking about 'frappuchinos' or lattes. It's black coffee with milk and sugar".

Yet, scientists are still reluctant to call coffee a panacea. That doesn't mean you can't enjoy one more cup in the meantime.