Health and Fitness: Healthy Coffee??

Picture from:http://natashawilson.files.wordpress.com/2009/02/coffee.jpg

Since the last time I have written an entry on coffee type and an entry on tea, I have kept my interest in knowing more. Here's an article which I read last December, and now I think is a good time to share.

Quoting from USNews.com,

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Coffee, Tea Might Stave Off Diabetes

Decaf may also offer some protection, study finds

Posted: December 14, 2009

By Serena Gordon
HealthDay Reporter

MONDAY, Dec. 14 (HealthDay News) -- Here's good news for people who can't start their morning without a cup or two of java: Coffee and tea consumption may decrease the risk of developing type 2 diabetes.

That's the conclusion of an Australian study that also found the more coffee you drink, the lower your risk of diabetes. Every cup of coffee was associated with a 7 percent reduction in the risk of diabetes, the researchers said.

"There is good evidence that consumption of coffee, including decaffeinated coffee, and tea is independently associated with a reduced risk of developing type 2 diabetes," said the study's lead author, Rachel Huxley, an associate professor and director of the renal and metabolic division at The George Institute for International Health at the University of Sydney in Australia.

Results of the study are published in the Dec. 14/28 issue of the Archives of Internal Medicine.

Other studies have also noted health benefits from coffee. Last week, at the American Association for Cancer Research meeting, researchers reported that coffee consumption reduced the risk of dying from prostate cancer. According to other studies, coffee may help thwart liver disease, Alzheimer's, stroke and Parkinson's disease.

Experts initially thought caffeine was the source of any health advantages from coffee. However, research on decaffeinated coffee suggests that java minus the caffeine can still benefit your health.

In an attempt to better assess the relationship between coffee, decaffeinated coffee and tea on diabetes risk, Huxley and her colleagues reviewed 18 previously completed studies that included 457,922 people. Six of those studies included information on decaffeinated coffee consumption, while seven included information on tea-drinking habits.

The researchers found that people who drink three to four cups of coffee daily had about a 25 percent reduction in their risk of developing type 2 diabetes compared to those who drank no coffee or up to two cups a day. For every cup of coffee consumed each day, the risk of developing diabetes dropped by about 7 percent, the study found.

Results for decaffeinated coffee and tea were also positive. Those drinking three to four cups of decaffeinated coffee per day lowered their risk of diabetes by about one-third compared to those who had no coffee each day. Those drinking three to four cups of tea each day lowered their risk of diabetes by about one-fifth compared to those who didn't drink tea, according to the study.

The researchers weren't able to assess a per cup risk reduction for tea or decaffeinated coffee, as they did for regular coffee, because there wasn't enough data in the published studies to do so, Huxley said.

It was previously believed that caffeine provided most of coffee's beneficial effects, but now experts suspect that "other components of these beverages, such as magnesium, lignans and chlorogenic acids, may also have a role," Huxley said.

She said those components appear to have a beneficial effect on blood sugar regulation and insulin secretion, but that further research is necessary.

"This study adds to the body of evidence that our diet and lifestyle are important determinants of subsequent diabetes risk," said Huxley. "Although it is too early to advocate for increased consumption of tea and coffee as a way of preventing diabetes, if these findings are confirmed by clinical trials, then the identification of the protective components in these beverages would open up new therapeutic pathways for the primary prevention of type 2 diabetes."

Other experts agree more research is needed.

"Coffee or tea may have an effect on diabetes risk, but in order to prove it, you need prospective studies," said Dr. Joel Zonszein, a professor of medicine and director of the clinical diabetes center at Montefiore Medical Center in New York City.

With regard to preventing diabetes, he said, "Coffee doesn't hurt, but you have to watch your diet and get enough physical activity."

More information

Learn more about eating right to help prevent diabetes and other illnesses from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

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Vocabulary:

diabetes -- a disease in which the body cannot control the level of sugar in the blood

prostate cancer -- a form of cancer that develops in the prostate, a gland in the male reproductive system.

thwart -- to stop something from happening or someone from doing something

Alzheimer's disease -- a disease that results in the gradual loss of memory, speech, movement, and the ability to think clearly, and that is common esp. among older people

stroke -- a sudden change in the blood supply to a part of the brain, which can cause a loss of the ability to move particular parts of the body

Parkinson's disease -- is a degenerative disorder of the central nervous system that often impairs the sufferer's motor skills, speech, and other functions

insulin -- a hormone in the body which controls the amount of sugar in the blood

secretion -- the process by which an animal or plant produces and releases a liquid, or the liquid produced

advocate -- to publicly support or suggest an idea, development or way of doing something

prospective study -- or a prospective cohort study is a cohort study that follows over time a group of similar individuals ("cohort") who differ with respect to certain factors under study, in order to determine how these factors affect rates of a certain outcome

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Opinions:

People have been saying that coffee consists of many cancer-causing (carcinogenic) substances and it stains your teeth from white to brown, then medical researches seem to be proving the other way round, people have also proven that drinking coffee with a straw can prevent getting your teeth stained. So is coffee a wolf in sheep's clothing? Or is it a sheep in wolf's clothing?

Let's keep up with the news by reading more newspaper when you go coffee drinking.

PS:

There are a lot of medical terms in this article, and so in the next entry, I will be offering something cool to help you with these terms.

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Resources:

http://lockyep.blogspot.com/2009/09/health-and-fitness-coffee.html

http://lockyep.blogspot.com/2009/03/health-and-fitness-english-tea.html

http://health.usnews.com/articles/health/healthday/2009/12/14/coffee-tea-might-stave-off--diabetes.html

http://dictionary.cambridge.org/define.asp?key=21422&dict=CALD&topic=disorders-and-diseases-of-the-heart-and-blood

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prostate_cancer

http://dictionary.cambridge.org/define.asp?key=82915&dict=CALD

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alzheimer's_disease

http://dictionary.cambridge.org/define.asp?key=78999&dict=CALD&topic=disorders-and-diseases-of-the-heart-and-blood

http://dictionary.cambridge.org/define.asp?key=71067&dict=CALD&topic=physical-and-chemical-processes

http://dictionary.cambridge.org/define.asp?key=1252&dict=CALD&topic=backing-supporting-and-defending

http://dictionary.cambridge.org/define.asp?key=41230&dict=CALD&topic=specific-medicines-and-drugs

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prospective_studies

http://dictionary.cambridge.org/define.asp?key=11400&dict=CALD&topic=cancer

http://dictionary.cambridge.org/define.asp?key=91074&dict=CALD&topic=faking-and-pretending