Coffee consumption has been linked to a lower risk of type 2 diabetes. - GreenMedInfo Summary
Coffee consumption and risk of chronic disease in the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition (EPIC)-Germany study.
Am J Clin Nutr. 2012 Feb 15. Epub 2012 Feb 15. PMID: 22338038
Department of Epidemiology, German Institute of Human Nutrition Potsdam-Rehbruecke, Nuthetal, Germany.
BACKGROUND: Early studies suggested that coffee consumption may increase the risk of chronic disease. OBJECTIVE: We investigated prospectively the association between coffee consumption and the risk of chronic diseases, including type 2 diabetes (T2D), myocardial infarction (MI), stroke, and cancer. DESIGN: We used data from 42,659 participants of the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition (EPIC)-Germany study. Coffee consumption was assessed by self-administered food-frequency questionnaire at baseline, and data on medically verified incident chronic diseases were collected by active and passive follow-up procedures. HRs and 95% CIs were calculated with multivariate Cox regression models and compared by competing risk analysis. RESULTS: During 8.9 y of follow-up, we observed 1432 cases of T2D, 394 of MI, 310 of stroke, and 1801 of cancer as first qualifying events. Caffeinated (HR: 0.94; 95% CI: 0.84, 1.05) or decaffeinated (HR: 1.05; 95% CI: 0.84, 1.31) coffee consumption (≥4 cups/d compared with<1 cup/d; 1 cup was defined as 150 mL) was not associated with the overall risk of chronic disease. A lower risk of T2D was associated with caffeinated (HR: 0.77; 95% CI: 0.63, 0.94; P-trend 0.009) and decaffeinated (HR: 0.70; 95% CI: 0.46, 1.06; P-trend: 0.043) coffee consumption (≥4 cups/d compared with<1 cup/d), but cardiovascular disease and cancer risk were not. The competing risk analysis showed no significant differences between the risk associations of individual diseases. CONCLUSION: Our findings suggest that coffee consumption does not increase the risk of chronic disease, but it may be linked to a lower risk of T2D.