How Does Coffee Affect Blood Sugar and Diabetes?

Type 2 diabetes is a massive health problem worldwide.

About 29 million people, or 9% of all US adults, had type 2 diabetes in the year 2012 (1).

Interestingly, long-term studies have linked coffee drinking with a reduced risk of type 2 diabetes (2, 3).

Yet, oddly enough, many short-term studies have shown that coffee and caffeine can raise blood sugar and insulin levels (4, 5, 6).

Why this happens is not fully known, but there are several theories.

This article examines the short-term and long-term effects of coffee on blood sugar and diabetes.

Coffee Drinkers Have a Lower Risk of Type 2 Diabetes

The health benefits of drinking coffee are well-documented.

In observational studies, coffee is linked to reduced blood sugar and insulin levels, which are major risk factors for type 2 diabetes (7).

Furthermore, consuming regular or decaf coffee on a regular basis is linked to a 23–50% lower risk of developing type 2 diabetes (3, 8, 9, 10, 11).

Studies have also shown that each daily cup of coffee you consume may reduce this risk by 4–8% (3, 8).

Additionally, people who drink 4–6 cups of coffee each day have a lower risk of type 2 diabetes than people who drink less than 2 cups each day (12).

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