Good news for coffee lovers across the world. Another study has found a cuppa to be beneficial for your health.
Four cups of the hot beverage each day can slash your risk of developing type 2 diabetes by 25 per cent, research suggests.
But the rule only applies to those who drink decaffeinated coffee, espressos and cafetieres – not lovers of trendier filter versions.
The beneficial effects all stem from cafestol, a compound abundant in coffee, but in varying levels across different varieties.
The findings, made by Danish scientists, add to a plethora of evidence which shows coffee to be beneficial for the body.
Dutch research implies drinking four cups of coffee a day is enough to prevent liver disease
In trials on mice at Aarhus University Hospital, those given cafestol were found to have lower blood sugar and higher insulin sensitivity.
Type 2 diabetes is caused by having too much glucose in the blood because the body’s way of turning it into energy is not working properly. This makes the body less sensitive to insulin.
Lead researcher Dr Fredrik Brustad Mellbye said: ‘Daily consumption of cafestol can delay the onset of type 2 diabetes in these mice.’
‘The present study adds further knowledge about mechanisms of action of bioactive substances in coffee.’
He added that it is a ‘good candidate’ for drug development to treat or prevent the condition, which can be fatal, in humans.
The findings, published in the American Chemical Society’s Journal of Natural Products, dispell the myth that the positive effects are solely from caffeine.
The results also keep in line with official guidelines that recommend adults should consume no more than 400mg of caffeine each day.
This amount can be found in eight cups of tea, or five cans of energy drink Red Bull, or more than 10 cans of Coca Cola.
For the study, researchers looked at mice genetically modified to become obese after birth. Obesity is a major risk factor of type 2 diabetes.
The rodents were split into three groups based on doses. Some were given 1.1mg of cafestol, others 0.4mg. A control group received none.
In real terms, a Scandinavian boiled coffee contains 6.2mg and cafetiere 2.6mg. But filter papers trap cafestol to keep levels below 0.1mg.
What did they find?
After 10 weeks, blood sugar levels were 28 to 30 per cent lower in both sets of mice given the compound.
Insulin sensitivity was improved by 42 per cent in the high-dose group, the researchers said.
However, the mice which were given the stronger dose suffered from higher levels of bad cholesterol and were found to put on weight.
Often thought of as harmless, type 2 diabetes is a hidden killer and can lead to heart failure, blindness, kidney disease and leg amputations.
There are more than 380 million sufferers of the preventable condition across the world, largely due to rising obesity rates and unhealthy diets.