Can coffee reduce your risk of diabetes?

By HFG expert Tracy Kelly, registered dietitian and clinical adviser at Diabetes UK

Coffee lovers will no doubt be rejoicing after being greeted with headlines such as ‘Drink more coffee to slash risk of diabetes’. But before you pour yourself a double espresso, let’s look more closely at the new study behind the news stories.

  

Scientists at Harvard School of Public Health looked at data on almost 128,000 healthcare professionals who, over two decades, were asked regularly about their diet. During that time 7,300 of them developed type 2 diabetes.

Those who boosted their coffee intake by more than a cup a day had an 11% lower risk of developing diabetes, while those who cut their consumption by more than a cup a day had a 17% higher risk of the disease. The researchers also found that people who drank three cups of coffee or more were 37% less likely to develop type 2 diabetes than those who drank one cup or less. The researchers suggest that coffee could decrease glucose levels in the blood.

The trouble is, at the moment that is speculation. They haven’t proved it was the coffee itself that was responsible for the increase or decrease in risk.

Think about it this way. What if you at a high risk of developing type 2 diabetes and were trying to make some lifestyle changes, perhaps including a reduction in your coffee intake? You would still be at a higher risk of developing type 2 diabetes in the first place but you would be drinking less coffee.

You might also decide to reduce your coffee intake as you get older. We know that your risk of type 2 diabetes increases as you get older, so in this case your age would be the key influence on your risk, rather than your coffee intake.

On first glance at this study, it might seem that upping your coffee intake is an easy solution if you want to reduce your risk of developing type 2 diabetes, but at the moment we simply can’t say it will make the slightest difference. Being overweight is the biggest risk factor for type 2 diabetes, accounting for more than 80% of the overall risk of developing the condition. The best way to reduce your risk therefore to maintain a healthy weight by eating a healthy, balanced diet low in fat, sugar and salt and high in fruit and vegetables and by being regularly physically active.

Our advice would be to keep walking past the coffee shop and on to the gym, the hills or the park. 

Confessions of a gadget queen

By Liz Atkins

I'm sure I could squeeze another machine in there...

‘Ha! We were just debating what new gadget Liz would be showing off,’ smirked my teenage niece the minute she set foot in my kitchen. She was eyeing the Virgin Pure T7 WaterBar with slight disapproval. OK, I am partial to a shiny innovation and I do like to browse those you-need-one-of-these! brochures that come free with the Radio Times.

But I have a feeling my worktop water dispenser, with its rather pleasing retro design, is more than a passing whim. It’s the kind of non-essential acquisition that soon becomes hard to imagine doing without. Basically, it dispenses perfectly chilled purified water at the touch of a button. But also – novelty! – it dispenses hot purified water at the touch of a second button. Sticklers for tea made with boiling water will want to press button number three. It’s connected to the mains, so no need to refill – ever. My poor exhausted kettle (itself a shiny new gadget not so long ago) is now in the back of a cupboard.

So why pay for something you get for free from the tap (or kettle)? For one thing, the water tastes lovely, and it’s hard to go back to eau de tap afterwards. For another, if you don’t have one of those fancy fridges with a water dispenser, it’s just divine on a warm day to sip chilled water without grappling with the ice-cube tray. And it does nudge you towards your recommended 1.2 litres a day. Inexplicably, everyone loves using it – while we chatted, my niece kept offering to replenish people’s glasses, I noticed. And I don’t think we can discount the benefits of not having to boil a kettle from scratch every time you fancy a hot drink.

Not everyone will want to shell out for their water, however pure. But if you often buy yours bottled, or share a house where the kettle is permanently on, you might just find it a cost-effective option. Gadget lovers, be warned – try it and it may become a permanent fixture in your kitchen.

The Virgin Pure T7 WaterBar comes in five colours, and costs £19.96 a month (including installation and service charges), or less if you make a one-off payment for the WaterBar. Find out more at www.virgin-pure.com