Diabetes and Coffee-The hidden connection!

Diabetes and coffee – is there a connection?  There certainly seems to be.  In fact, there appears to be more than one connection between coffee and diabetes.  One is good, and can actually help prevent diabetes, or help diabetics keep their blood sugar levels under control.  But the other one is bad, and can make managing blood sugar levels for diabetics very difficult.  We’ll discuss both of these ties between coffee and diabetes in this article, and help you makes the choices that can make managing your diabetes, or preventing it, easier.

Let’s talk about the first link between diabetes and coffee.  For decades, researchers had noticed that people who drink coffee on a regular basis were less likely to come down with adult onset (Type 2) diabetes.  Many of them thought that caffeine played a part in preventing diabetes.  But they now agree that that’s not the case.  Yes, coffee drinkers do tend to get diabetes less than those who never touch the stuff, but it’s not due to the caffeine in coffee.  Unfortunately, they’re not sure what it is about coffee that helps prevent diabetes.  They’re just certain that it’s not caffeine.

Which brings us to the second link between diabetes and coffee, which is the bad connection.  And  you can probably guess what it is.  If you said caffeine, you’re exactly right.  More and more research is showing that caffeine consumption of any kind, not just in coffee, tends to cause a rise in blood sugar levels not long afterwards.  Which is the last thing a diabetic needs to be dealing with.  So if you’re diabetic, and you drink regular coffee or tea, you can make your disease more manageable by switching to decaf.  And even if you’re not diabetic, but are worried about coming down with the disease, you should switch to decaf.  Because while there does seem to be something in coffee that helps prevent diabetes, it definitely isn’t caffeine.