You’ve had that morning where the first thing you do is chug the whole pot of coffee either because you stayed up way to late the night before binge watching Netflix, or cramming for an exam. Or you just regularly drink a whole pot of coffee in order to stay awake and alert enough throughout the day. Or,  maybe just maybe, you really just love the aroma and taste of a good cup of coffee in the morning. The good news is that whatever your reason for drinking coffee, coffee has been scientifically proven to have health benefits such as reducing the risk of type two diabetes.

Background Information

Coffee is consumed by millions of people every single day. Coffee comes from infusing a liquid with ground roasted coffee beans. Although many people enjoy the rich aroma and taste of a good cup of coffee, many people drink a cup of joe for its stimulating effects.The stimulating effect of coffee comes from my favorite little molecule called caffeine. Caffeine works by binding to receptors in the brain that adenosine originally would bind to, inhibiting adenosine’s effects. Adenosine binds to receptors on the neuron and causes drowsiness and vasodialation, signaling the brain that its time for bed. By drinking coffee, people are able to block the sleepy affects of adenosine.

This photo shows the structural similarities between adenosine and caffeine. Both adenine and caffeine are purines. (click photo for link)

Health Benefits of Coffee

Over the last few years, many scientists have started looking into the inverse relationship between coffee drinkers and major health problems such as type 2 diabetes mallitus. Although there are not a lot of conclusive scientific studies that show exactly why coffee drinking reduces the chances of getting type 2 diabetes, there are a lot of epidemiological studies that have shown an undeniable relationship between the two.

For example: In a recent study of more than 17,000 Dutch men and women, people who drank more than 7 cups of coffee a day had a 50% lower chance of developing type 2 diabetes, than people who drank two or less cups of coffee a day. Another study in Finland (found from the same article), had similar results. This study followed 14,000 men and women for 12 years, and found that women who drank 10 cups of coffee or more a day had a reduced risk of type two diabetes by a whopping 79% and men that drank more than 10 cups of coffee a day had a reduced risk of type 2 diabetes by 55%.

Although the studies have shown a very strong inverse relationship between drinking coffee and developing type 2 diabetes, scientists are still trying to figure out how coffee plays a role. Scientists propose that the phenolic compounds in coffee play an important role by blocking glucose uptake in the small intestine. In a study using mice, scientists have found that chologenic acid in coffee has been found to slow glucose transport in membrane vessicles. This slower uptake of glucose in the small intestine could lead to more controlled and lower blood sugar levels, resulting in a reduced chance of getting type 2 diabetes mellitus.

Whatever your reason for drinking a cup of joe in the morning, keep drinking on!! Not only does coffee provide a nice simulating buzz to get you through the day, but it also may prevent you from getting unwanted health problems in the future!

Kaitlin Burdick