* I'm wondering about this study..... If caffeine raises insulin levels. Is this just politics?! Oliva February 17, 2004 NUTRITION NEWS FOCUS "Nutrition news is important. We help you understand it!" Today's Topic: Coffee and Diabetes A recent analysis finds that people who drink the most coffee have less risk of developing type 2 diabetes. The risk was cut in half in men and by a third in women drinking the most coffee. The study is another in the ongoing output of Harvard studies on the Nurses' Health Study and Health Professionals Follow-up Study. About 84,000 women and 42,000 men were asked about diet every 2 to 4 years and followed for 20 years. During that time, over 5,000 cases of diabetes were diagnosed. Coffee drinking ranged from none to more than 6 cups a day. The study was published in the January 6, 2004 edition of the Annals of Internal Medicine. < http://www.annals.org/cgi/content/abstract/140/1/1 > HERE'S WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW: Coffee drinking correlated with alcohol intake, and alcohol drinking has been previously linked with less type 2 diabetes. Previous studies have also linked coffee to less diabetes, but this study implicates caffeinated coffee as having most of the effect; decaffeinated coffee had a much smaller effect and tea had no benefit. Do these results mean that increasing coffee intake can prevent or treat diabetes? Of course not. They suggest there may be something in coffee that has a beneficial effect or that something about the lifestyle of coffee drinkers should get the credit.