Can drinking coffee away from diabetes prevent diabetes?

Previous studies have shown that people who drink coffee regularly have a lower risk of developing type 2 diabetes. Drinking more than four cups of coffee a day can reduce the risk of diabetes by 50%, and even reduce the risk by 7% for each additional cup. However, the mechanism behind this kind of correlation research is still confusing and unable to put forward a more complete explanation.

Researchers from China have found evidence that coffee affects the folding process of human islet amyloid polypeptide (hIAPP) in human islets. The erroneous folding of human islet starch polypeptides is considered to be one of the main factors leading to type 2 diabetes. According to their recent paper published in Journal of Agricultural & Food Chemistry, some of the coffee ingredients effectively inhibit the production of harmful islet starch polypeptides, thus reducing the risk of type 2 diabetes among coffee lovers.

The authors of the study believe that this study suggests that the effect of coffee intake may be due to the fact that coffee's principal components or metabolites can inhibit the accumulation of harmful islet starch polypeptides in the human islet. This allows coffee lovers to drink coffee with an additional benefit of reducing the risk of diabetes.

News source: The Benefits of Coffee

Original paper: Coffee Components Inhibit Amyloid Formation of Human Islet Amyloid Polypeptide in Vitro: Possible Link between Coffee Consumption and Diabetes Mellitus

A protein is a chain of peptides made up of many amino acids, and a long peptide needs to be folded correctly in order for the protein to function. The members of the amino acid family are hydrophobic and hydrophilic, respectively. Because most of the cytoplasm is water, if the wrong folding occurs, the serious situation is like hydrophobic amino acids exposed to the outside and repelling water. The wrong folded proteins will be birds of a feather flock together, and even bind to the hydrophobic amino acids of other proteins, thus affecting the normal function of the cell.

This study attempts to explain from another perspective how coffee reduces the risk of developing diabetes and provides further explanation for the relevance of epidemiological studies. However, coffee is made up of many substances, and not all ingredients must have positive effects. If we can carefully explore which compounds are really effective according to the results of this study, and then develop or synthesize similar drugs or health foods, it must be a more valuable place for this research!

Many people's coffee drinking habits usually add a cube of sugar, which is not taken into account in this study, because scientific research is required to test the effects of a single substance. However, if you add a lot of sugar to drinking coffee, it will still cause an increase in blood sugar and affect the maintenance of blood sugar.

Finally, drinking coffee also has other negative effects on the human body, such as palpitations. Regular exercise and healthy eating habits, coupled with moderate consumption of coffee, is the secret recipe to stay away from diabetes!