http://www.ajc.com/health/content/h...4/06coffee.html

Coffee cuts diabetes risk, study finds

By PATRICIA GUTHRIE
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Java junkies, go grab yourself another cup o' joe. And another.

Coffee looks to be a magic bean of protection against one of America's surging epidemics -- Type 2 diabetes.

In a Harvard medical study released Monday, long-term coffee drinkers cut their risk of developing the disease by 30 percent to 50 percent compared with those who didn't drink the bitter brew. Results confirm what was first reported last year by scientists in the Netherlands.

"This is good news for coffee drinkers, however it doesn't mean everyone should run out for a latte," said Frank Hu, lead researcher and a professor of nutrition and epidemiology at the Harvard School of Public Health. "We still don't know exactly why coffee is beneficial for diabetes, and more research is clearly needed."

Among the 19,000 previous studies on coffee worldwide, it has been shown to lower the risk of gallstones, colon cancer, cirrhosis of the liver and Parkinson's disease. But doctors usually steer pregnant women, children and heart patients away from coffee.

Researchers say they can't fully explain the long-term effect caffeine has on diabetes. It seems to reverse its immediate negative effect -- raising blood sugar levels.

"People seem to get used to the caffeine and develop tolerance to its increase on insulin," Hu said. "Coffee is actually a very complex beverage. It has numerous compounds and minerals."

The Harvard study appears in this week's Annals of Internal Medicine.

More than 125,000 healthy men and women free of diabetes, cancer and cardiovascular disease were followed from 1986 to 1998 and asked about their intake of regular and decaffeinated coffee in the Harvard analysis.

Those who drank six or more cups of caffeinated coffee daily experienced the greatest decline in diabetes risk -- men by more than 50 percent and women by nearly 30 percent.

For the more than 17 million Americans already suffering from Type 2 diabetes, the study means they shouldn't be afraid to drink coffee, Hu said, as long as they hold the sugar.

About 110 million Americans drink coffee every day -- 9 billion gallons of the brew a year. That's enough to fill the Empire State Building every other week.

Good news or bad, committed coffee drinkers don't care either way. They know what they need and when they need it.

"I'd probably take hostages without it," said Lary Blodgett, 50, enjoying a good old regular cup of joe Sunday evening at the San Francisco Coffee Roasting Co. near Ponce de Leon Avenue. "Anyway, studies are like opinions. Next week, they'll change."

Caffeine can be a double-edged sword.

Do you realize how much caffeine is in 6 cups of coffee? I would be climbing the walls and running laps around my house if I drank 6 cups of coffee every day. I would probably also burn off a lot of calories if I was that active!

On one hand, caffeine can be a weight loss tool (like ephedra was) to rev up metabolism, as a stimulant it boosts energy level and affects insulin production

However, the Atkins website has this to say:

http://atkins.com/helpatkins/newfaq...utritional.html


Why is caffeine unacceptable in the Atkins Nutritional Approach?

Excess caffeine can drop blood sugar levels and leave you craving sweets. If you're addicted to caffeine, you must give it up. The best way to do this is to segue from the high-octane stuff to decaf by gradually adding decaf to your full-force brew until you are drinking straight decaf, which you can enjoy with cream. Water-processed decaf is preferable because it does not use chemicals, as other decaffeinating processes do.

I wonder, however, if the coffee study below may have pinpointed a different element of coffee that makes it healthy... maybe there are some phytonutrients at play as well.

Also notice the length of the study. It's only 12 years. Dr. A mentions a 20-year span to notice a trend in diabetes. What if the effect of the coffee (or caffeine) after 15 or 20 years of increasing insulin production to bring blood sugar levels down, actually caused insulin resistance in old age?

Moreover, what do we eat with coffee? It's usually carbs/sweets--perhaps because of the caffeine effect. Perhaps the coffee mitigates the donuts, but over time I think the effect of coffee is outweighed by the effect of the donuts.

Just some thoughts.

6 cups of Coffee is about 300mg of Caffeine if I remember correctly, and that is just the regular stuff. Just looked it up, it is actually more like 512mg.

For Reference Up until about 1999, a No Doz was 250mg. After that, it was decreased to 200mg. The suggested dose is 1/2 to 1 pill [100-200mg.] Before Atkins, when I had to stay awake for extended periods, I would take 2 at a time [400mg] washed down with a Pepsi [37mg.] That was enough to keep me awake for most of the day.

For the average person, 512mg would have them bouncing off the walls. I took somewhere between 1,000 and 2,000mg [within a couple hours] one time for a final exam and it caused a severe nosebleed.

Caffeine is an Alkaloid, just like Cocaine and Ephedra...though it is weaker than the other two. 10 mg/kg [1,000mg for a 220 pound person] is considered toxic. 150-200 mg/kg [15,000-20,000mg for a 220 pound person] is known to be fatal. The lowest known fatal dose was 57 mg/kg [5,700mg for a 220 pound person.] One study showed that those who ingested 600mg+ per day [of Caffeine] had higher rates of miscarriage and infertility. In addition, excessive Caffeine intake can fuck with your Blood Sugar Levels, Blood Pressure, and Heart Rate...and can become Addictive. So, while small amounts may increase Metabolism, overdoing it can cause more problems than it helps prevent.

The biggest problem I have with caffeine is its diuretic effect. I have to drink extra water to make up for that, and sometimes I don't make it.