Coffee may help reduce risk of type 2 diabetes

Researchers say ingredient other than caffeine is responsible for benefit

NEW YORK - Coffee drinkers have a substantially lower risk of developing type 2 diabetes than people who abstain from the beverage, a new study shows.

This “striking” protective effect was seen in former coffee drinkers as well, Besa Smith and co-investigators at the University of California San Diego in La Jolla report.

“The growing body of literature definitely suggests strongly ... that there is something there,” she told Reuters Health in an interview. Just what that something is isn’t clear, but it’s probably not caffeine, she said, because the effect has also been observed with decaffeinated coffee.

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