That cup of coffee might slash through your morning grogginess, but new research suggests it cuts your risk of Type 2 diabetes, too.
A study published in the BMJ Medicine journal on March 14 suggests that regularly drinking coffee could have several health benefits, namely reducing body fat and minimizing the risk of Type 2 diabetes.
While the consumption of caffeine has previously been linked to weight loss in the short term by various studies, researchers from the Karolinska Institutet in Sweden wanted to better understand its long-term effects on total body mass.
The goal of the study was to determine whether coffee drinkers were reaping benefits due to their caffeine intake or other factors, such as being middle-class and being able to afford a healthier lifestyle.
The researchers examined nearly 10,000 people with genetic traits, such as the CYP1A2 and AHR genes, which affect how the body handles caffeine intake. They used a statistical technique called Mendelian randomization. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, this technique allows researchers to investigate the relationship of causal inference between a trait and an outcome.
Interestingly, people with these genetic variants metabolize caffeine slowly and drink less coffee, yet have high levels of caffeine in their blood. The same group of people was discovered to have a lower body mass index, lower body fat mass, and lower risk of Type 2 diabetes. This indicates that caffeine is the primary factor responsible for these benefits.
Moreover, almost half of the reduced Type 2 diabetes risk among individuals with genetic traits that affect caffeine metabolism can be attributed to their lower body mass index. There is some evidence indicating that caffeine can promote fat burning and increase satiety, leading people to consume fewer calories.
Since maintaining a healthy weight is linked to a lower risk of becoming prediabetic, caffeine’s impact on weight management may contribute to its potential health benefits.
The CDC estimates that approximately one in 10 Americans is affected by diabetes, with 90% to 95% of them having Type 2 diabetes. This disease, in which the cells of the body become insulin resistant, is caused by an unhealthy lifestyle.
Although Type 2 diabetes has historically been more prevalent in people over age 45, the rising rates of childhood obesity — especially in Texas — have led to more young Americans developing the disease and other metabolic disorders. The CDC projects that as many as 220,000 people under the age of 20 might have Type 2 diabetes by 2060.
With this in mind, the observational findings of the study linking regular coffee consumption to a lower body mass index are promising.
At the same time, Dr. Dipender Gill, one of the study’s authors from Imperial College London, told the New York Post that this doesn’t mean people should go hog wild with multiple super-sized cups of joe or “drink lots of high-calorie caffeinated drinks like chai lattes.”
In fact, as Dr. Katarina Kos, another author from the University of Exeter, told The Guardian, the positive effects of drinking caffeinated beverages would be offset by any additions of sugar or fat.
In addition, coffee — especially when it isn’t filtered — also contains less beneficial compounds known as diterpenes.
“Five to eight cups a day of unfiltered coffee may actually raise your ‘bad’ LDL cholesterol,” Dr. Eric Rimm, a professor of epidemiology and nutrition at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, told Harvard Health Publishing.
As for the new study’s use of Mendelian randomization, Dr. Stephen Lawrence, an associate clinical professor at the University of Warwick’s medical school, told The Guardian that while useful, the method is “vulnerable to bias.”
Lawrence still argued that the study is handy for helping to further the research into caffeine and the development of treatment plans to combat Type 2 diabetes.
As for whether people should drink more coffee for their health, Lawrence urged caution.
Caffeine consumption should not be confused with treatment for obesity and can lead to harm for some people prone to abnormal heart rhythms.
In all, an intake of 100 mg of caffeine — about one average cup of coffee — a day is estimated to increase energy expenditure by about 100 calories.