Does coffee increase or decrease your risk of prediabetes? What if you added sugar to your morning cup o’ joe? Genes matter here, and a study that included almost 8,000 people in South Korea explains.[ref]
Coffee, genes, and diabetes:
The study looked at the incidence of either type 2 diabetes or prediabetes in participants over the course of 12 years. Researchers found that almost 12% of the participants were diagnosed with diabetes, and over 60% became prediabetic during that time.
Overall, consuming 2 or more cups of coffee each day decreased the risk of diabetes or prediabetes.
Surprisingly, even drinking sugar-sweetened coffee reduced the risk of diabetes/prediabetes, but the risk reduction was not quite as much as in the black coffee group.
The decrease in risk varied quite a bit, depending on which genetic variants a person carried. Some people had a 13% risk reduction, while others had up to a 64% risk reduction.
The researchers used a genetic risk score based on 5 genetic variants (SNPs). People with a higher number of variant alleles had the greatest decrease in the risk of diabetes.
Coffee and Diabetes Risk Genotype Report:
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Caffeine vs. polyphenols in coffee:
Is it the caffeine in coffee that decreases diabetes risk? A meta-analysis that combined information for over 1,000,000 study participants found that both decaffeinated and regular coffee decreased the risk of type 2 diabetes. The greater number of cups of coffee correlated to a greater decrease in diabetes risk.[ref]
The main polyphenol in coffee is chlorogenic acid, which inhibits glucose-5-phosphatase production in the liver. This may cause decreased glucose output by the liver, thus reducing blood glucose levels.[ref][ref]
Other ways to decrease blood glucose levels:
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