The COFFEE Connection To Type 2 Diabetes

I have read articles on and off about the connection between Type 2 Diabetes and Coffee. Most of them address a reduced risk of developing Type 2 Diabetes if you are a coffee drinker already. An article in Diabetes Self Management relates this to possibly the antioxidants in coffee.

Researchers at UCLA have recently found a possible molecular mechanism behind coffee's protective effect. It is a protein called sex hormone-binding globulin (SHBG). This protein apparently regulates
the biological activity of BOTH estrogen and testosterone which have both been thought to have an important role in the development of Type 2 diabetes. Drinking coffee apparently INCREASES PLASMA LEVELS OF (SHBG).

THIS DOES not apply IF YOU DRINK Decaf coffee.......you need to go for the real thing.

http://zestzfulness.blogspot.com/2011/09/coffee-diabetes-connection.html

EXCERPT:

A large body of clinical studies has implicated the important role of sex hormones in the development of type 2 diabetes, and it’s known that SHBG not only regulates the sex hormones that are biologically active, but may also bind to receptors in a variety of cells, directly mediating the signaling of sex hormones.

“It seems that SHBG in the blood does reflect a genetic susceptibility to developing type 2 diabetes,” Dr. Liu says. “But we now further show that this protein can be influenced by dietary factors such as coffee intake in affecting diabetes risk – the lower the levels of SHBG, the greater the risk beyond any known diabetes risk factors.”

Bad news for decaf lovers

Unfortunately, decaf doesn’t seem to convey the same benefit. Says Goto: “You probably have to go for the octane!”

The research was published in Diabetes Journal: Goto A, Song Y, Chen BH, Manson JE, Buring JE, Liu S. Coffee and Caffeine Consumption in Relation to Sex Hormone–Binding Globulin and Risk of Type 2 Diabetes in Postmenopausal Women. Diabetes January 2011 60:269-27

Story Source: The above story is reprinted (with editorial adaptations by The Zestzfulness Team) from the news release by UCLA School of Public Health on January 12, 2011.

ANOTHER valuable LINK for the COFFEE connection:

http://coffeetea.about.com/od/health/a/healthdiabetes.htm

EXCERPT:

In earlier studies, Dutch researchers discovered that there are compounds in coffee that aid the body's metabolism of sugar. Their study involved 17,000 men and women in the Netherlands. The results were published in November 2002, in the journal Lancet.
According to their study, people who drank 7 cups a day (or more) were 50% less likely to develop type 2 diabetes. Drinking less coffee had less of an impact on diabetes onset. Researchers are still looking at the connection between coffee and diabetes, and caution people that 7 cups of coffee per day is enough to create other health problems. A number of older studies have shown that caffeine may increase your risk of developing diabetes. The theory is that the beneficial chemicals are able to offset the damage done by the caffeine. So drinking decaffeinated coffee would be the best bet if you are thinking of drinking coffee to prevent diabetes.Tea also has an effect on diabetes. Drinking tea can improve insulin activity up to 15 times, and it can be black, green or oolong. Herbal teas don't have any effect. The active compounds don't last long in the body, so you would have to drink a cup or more of tea every few hours to maintain the benefit. The catch is that you should drink it without milk (even soy milk), because milk seems to interact with the necessary chemicals and render them unavailable to your body.

Dan

Proverbs 21:23 "Whoso keepeth his mouth and his tongue keepeth his sould from troubles"