Coffee Consumption and Risk of Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus Among Middle-aged Finnish Men and Women

CENTURIES OF COFFEE DRINKing has made it the most consumed beverage in the world. During the last decade, research has attempted to make clear health benefits or detriments received from coffee drinking. Effects of coffee and caffeine on cardiovascular disease, hypertension, neurological diseases, different types of cancer, hormonal changes, gallstones, renal stones, as well as diabetes mellitus (DM) have been studied through epidemiological, clinical, or experimental research. Type 2 DM is one of the diseases that is largely determined by lifestyle factors. The role of coffee in relation to DM has not been investigated thoroughly. A large Dutch cohort study recently showed an inverse association between coffee consumption and the risk of DM. It is well known that caffeine stimulates insulin secretion of the pancreatic beta cells in vivo. However, coffee with its complex compounds may influence many other processes that may take part in the development of DM. According to international statistics, the Finnish population has the highest per capita coffee consumption in the world with 11.3 kg in 2000. Therefore, research into potential health effects of coffee in this population is of particular interest. Our large prospective study aimed at determining whether the suggested inverse relationship between coffee and type 2 DM exists among the Finnish population. In Author Affiliations: Department of Epidemiology and Health Promotion, National Public Health Institute (Drs Tuomilehto, Hu, and Bidel, and Ms Lindström), Department of Public Health, University of Helsinki (Drs Tuomilehto, Hu, and Jousilahti), and Institute of Biomedicine (Dr Bidel), Helsinki, Finland. Corresponding Author: Jaakko Tuomilehto, MD, PhD, Diabetes and Genet i c Ep idemio logy Unit, Department of Epidemiology and Health Promotion, National Public Health Institute, Mannerheimintie 166, Helsinki, Finland FIN-00300 (jaakko [email protected]). Context Only a few studies of coffee consumption and diabetes mellitus (DM) have been reported, even though coffee is the most consumed beverage in the world.