Type 2 diabetes: coffee and tea reduce risk of heart disease and premature death

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If you have Type 2 diabetesDrinking more coffee, tea or plain water can reduce the risk of dying prematurely from any cause by around 25%, according to a new study.

However, drinking more sugary drinks increases the risk of heart disease by 25% and the risk of dying from a heart attack or other cardiovascular event by 29%, according to the study. Research showed that cardiovascular disease is the most common cause of death in people with type 2 diabetes.

“Some drinks are absolutely more beneficial than others, depending on the type of drink you’re comparing,” said study author Qi Sun, associate professor of nutrition and epidemiology at Harvard TH Chan School of Public. Health in Boston.

“Based on our study, I would rank black coffee, unsweetened tea, and plain water higher than low-fat milk, fruit juice, or artificially sweetened beverages,” he said. “Sweetened beverages like colas, high-sugar fruit juices, and whole milk high in saturated fat are known risk factors for developing type 2 diabetes and premature cardiovascular disease.”

The study, published Wednesday in the magazine BMJ, analyzed dietary data from nearly 15,500 adults with a diagnosis of type 2 diabetes who were part of the Nurses Health Study And Health Professional Follow-up Study in the USA.

Nearly 75% of respondents in the studies were women with an average age of 61. Every two to four years for an average of 18 years, participants answered questions about their consumption of eight different types of beverages — artificially sweetened beverages, coffee, fruit juice, low-fat, and whole. milk, plain water, tea and sugary drinks.

Examples of sugary drinks included caffeinated sodas, non-caffeinated sodas, fruit punches, lemonades, and other fruit drinks. More than one such drink per day was considered a high level of use; low consumption was less than one sugary drink per month.

The study defined high consumption of coffee (caffeinated and decaffeinated) at four cups per day, tea at two cups per day, water at five glasses per day, and low-fat milk at two glasses per day. A low amount for each beverage was less than one cup or glass per month.

The analysis showed that people who drank the most sugary drinks had a 20% increased risk of death from any cause compared to those who drank the least. The study found that dying from a cardiovascular event, such as a heart attack, increased by 29%.

The risk of premature death increased by 8% for each additional serving per day.

According to the study, consuming large amounts of coffee, tea, water, and low-fat milk was associated with lower mortality compared to consuming a small amount. The risk of premature death associated with coffee consumption was 26% lower, 21% for tea, 23% for plain water and 12% for skimmed milk.

Looking specifically at cardiovascular disease, data showed that higher coffee consumption was associated with an 18% reduced risk of heart disease. Drinking low-fat milk reduces the risk of having heart problems by 12%, according to the study.

There was good news for people who were heavy drinkers of sugary drinks before being diagnosed with type 2 diabetes. When these sugary drinks were replaced with coffee or calorie-free artificial drinks after diagnosis, the risk of premature death has decreased significantly, according to the study.

When sugary, artificial calorie-free beverages were replaced with coffee, tea, plain water, and low-fat milk, the risk of heart disease and death from any cause was even greater. weak.

There was no data on the types of tea (black, green, herbal, or fruit) consumed during the studies and no information on whether participants added sugar to coffee or tea. The lack of data on this common additive means that “the comparative health effects of hot unsweetened and sugary drinks remain unclear,” wrote Nita Forouhi, program manager and researcher in nutritional epidemiology at the University of Cambridge in the UK. United. in an accompanying editorial.

The study was observational, so the results cannot be viewed through a cause and effect lens. However, the authors “performed detailed and repeated dietary data collection, followed participants for nearly two decades, applied comprehensive adjustments for confounders, and performed 12 different sensitivity analyses,” said Forouhi, who did not. did not participate in the study.

“The case for avoiding sugary drinks is compelling,” she said. “The choice of drink clearly matters.”