We have known for years that drinking coffee reduces a person’s risk of getting type II diabetes. This type of diabetes affects about 38 million US adults and more than half a million adults across the world. This condition impairs the body’s ability to use insulin, thus resulting in high levels of blood sugar. High blood sugar over time leads to high blood pressure, strokes, heart disease, kidney damage and failure, diabetic retinopathy and blindness, peripheral blood vessel problems including ulcers and even amputations. The personal cost of dealing with type II diabetes and its complications averages about $4,000 per American patient per year. While we have known for some time that coffee drinkers have a lower incidence of this disease we have only recently found out that there are constituents of coffee that help treat the disease!
How Does Coffee Help Prevent Type II Diabetes?
While coffee as of yet is not recommended for treatment of type II diabetes studies have shown that a little as a cup a day reduces the incidence of this disease and the effect improves up to six cups a day. Researchers believe that antioxidants (polyphenols) in coffee are responsible for this effect. What they have previously observed is that if you drink coffee you are less likely to be diagnosed with the disease but no one has previously shown that coffee consumption reduces blood sugar levels in type II diabetics. That has now changed.
Coffee Beans Before Roasting
How Does Coffee Help Treat Type II Diabetes?
Chinese researchers at the Kunming Institute of Botany in South Central China studied roasted Arabica coffee beans from that region. They identified compounds that appear to help slow carbohydrate breakdown which has been a goal for developing medicines to treat diabetes. Researchers identified three compounds that inhibit an enzyme, α-glucosidase, which is an enzyme that researchers hope to target for treatment of diabetes. This enzyme slows the breakdown of carbohydrates into sugar. While the researchers are not currently saying that you can treat type II diabetes with coffee they hope to use their findings to develop medications that can be used to treat patients with the disease, control their blood sugars, and reduce the risk of life threatening complications! The scientists discovered three separate compounds in roasted Arabica coffee capable of slowing the process by which α-glucosidase breaks down carbohydrates into sugar.
How Much Does Coffee Do to Help Avoid and Treat Type II Diabetes?
Observational studies show an up to 30% lower risk of type II diabetes in coffee drinkers. This figure, by itself, is a good reason, along with diet and exercise for dealing with the risk of this disease. It it far too early to anticipate the amount of help that a medicine derived from coffee will offer in treating the active disease. Nevertheless, research continues and give us hope that a prevalent and dangerous disease in modern society will be better avoided and controlled thanks to the constituents of our morning cup of coffee!
Who Should Worry About Type II Diabetes?
Type II diabetes runs in families, so if such is the case in your family, is wise to take preventative measures. Being overweight and not physically active increases your risk of this disease, so maintaining an ideal weight and exercising regularly are both good ideas. The risk of type II diabetes goes up in midlife. As such having your blood sugar checked when you enter your 40s is also a good idea. Type II diabetes, unlike type I where a person does not secrete insulin, comes on gradually so a person at risk has ample time to deal with the issue by adjusting diet and exercise. And, if you are at risk for this disease and are interested in adding one more useful tool, drink a cup of two of find Arabica coffee every day to help in prevention!