Why Coffee May Reduce Diabetes Risk

Chinese Researchers Zero in on Coffee Substances That May Explain the Benefit

By Kathleen Doheny
WebMD Health News
Reviewed by Brunilda Nazario, MD

Jan. 13, 2012 -- Coffee drinking has been linked with a reduced risk of diabetes, and now Chinese researchers think they may know why.

Three compounds found in coffee seem to block the toxic accumulation of a protein linked with an increased risk of type 2 diabetes.

''We found three major coffee compounds can reverse this toxic process and may explain why coffee drinking is associated with a lower risk of type 2 diabetes," says researcher Kun Huang, PhD, a professor of biological pharmacy at the Huazhong University of Science & Technology.

Previous studies have found that people who drink four or more cups of coffee a day have a 50% lower risk of getting type 2 diabetes.

The new study is published in the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry.

(More here.)