Again, It Depends on Who It Hangs Out With

In a previous blog I had discussed some of the research of coffee consumption and a reduced risk of diabetes.  It seems there are several phenols or phytonutrients in brewed coffee that offer diabetes preventative benefit.  I also made the point that this might be negated by whomever your coffee hung around with such as sugar, donuts, and cigarettes.  A new study confirmed much of that. 

The study analyzed the coffee consumption of 150,106 participants as well as their use of additions such as cream, sugar and artificial sweeteners. (1)  Each cup of consumed coffee without any additives reduced the risk of type two diabetes by 10%.  The addition of sugar cut the benefit in half lowering it from each cup to 5%.  The addition of artificial sweetener reduced the benefit even more to only 3% per cup. 

The addition of cream to the coffee did not reduce the benefit.  The same could not be said for non-dairy alternatives which reduced the benefit a small amount.  The take-aways are:

1. A few cups of fresh brewed coffee can help reduce the risk of diabetes.
2. Real cream does not reduce this benefit.
3. Other cream alternatives reduce the benefit slightly but not significantly.
4. Sugar significantly reduces the preventative effect. 
5. Artificial sweeteners reduce the benefit even more.

This coffee study reinforces a broader theme emerging studying the relationship between food and health.  Food, the way nature evolved it, has disease preventive attributes.  Once man began to “remake it better” it has turned from friend to foe.

Henn, Matthias et al.  Coffee Consumption, Additive Use, and Risk of Type 2 Diabetes—Results from 3 Large Prospective United States Cohort Studies.  American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 2025;ePub Ahead of Print.