Diabetes, with green tea and coffee reduced mortality for patients – Diabetes

The consumption of coffee and green tea increases life expectancy in patients with diabetes: the combined consumption of both drinks (4 cups of green tea and two of coffee a day) reduces, in fact, the risk of death from any cause of 63% (risk more than halved). This is suggested by a study published in the BMJ Open Diabetes Research & Care journal and conducted by Yuji Komorita of Kyushu University, in Fukuoka, Japan.

The research involved 4923 diabetics whose health was monitored on average for over 5 years. People with diabetes have worse quality and life expectancy than their healthy peers because the disease causes severe cardiovascular complications. These patients also have a slightly higher risk of developing dementia and cancer as well.

The correct management of diabetes requires not only adequate drug therapy but also healthy lifestyles and eating habits, able to prevent and reduce this additional risk. In this work, patients with type 2 diabetes were visited throughout the monitoring period to find and evaluate all possible risk factors; in addition, the eating habits of the sample were assessed through ad hoc questionnaires, with particular attention to the type of drinks consumed; lifestyle information was also collected (sedentary lifestyle, sleep, smoking, alcohol consumption, etc.).

The deaths recorded in the observation period were in all 309; the main causes of death were cancer (114) and cardiovascular disease (76). Well, it emerged that compared to non-consumers of green tea and coffee, those who used to drink one or both drinks had a lower risk of death from any cause, with a ‘dose-dependent’ mechanism, i.e. the more they drank, the less it was. their risk of dying.

In particular, drinking up to a cup of green tea a day reduces mortality by 15%; drinking 2-3 lowers the risk by 27%. For consumption of 4 or more cups of tea daily, the risk is reduced by 40%. Among coffee drinkers, the risk is reduced by 19% for consumption of one cup per day; 41% for the consumption of two or more cups.

The risk of death is even lower for those who consume both drinks: it is reduced by 51% for consumption of 2-3 cups of green tea and 2 or more coffees per day; 58% for 4 or more cups of green tea and a cup of coffee; 63% for a combined consumption of 4 or more cups of green tea and 2 or more cups of coffee per day.

The protective mechanism of the two drinks is to be attributed to their content in antioxidants and other active molecules with positive effects on health, the experts conclude.

“An interesting and new aspect of this study is that the consumption of tea and coffee is associated with a reduced mortality from all causes in a population of Japanese with type 2 diabetes – says in a comment to ANSA Rosalba Giacco of the Italian Society of Diabetology and researcher at the Institute of Food Science of the CNR of Avellino. In the studies available so far this effect had been observed essentially in the non-diabetic population – specifies Giacco, SID expert in nutrition. tended to be lower in both tea and coffee users. These results are plausible as there is sufficient scientific evidence that the polyphenols contained in green tea have beneficial effects on the vascular level, for example on the reduction of blood pressure. and on oxidative damage – continues Giacco. Even the polyphenols present in coffee, such as chlorogenic acid and caffeine, improve they promote oxidative stress and other cardio-metabolic risk factors “.

“It should be noted, however – he concludes – that caffeine increases blood pressure, so despite the benefits observed in this study, in people with hypertension or heart disease, coffee must be consumed in moderation (no more than two cups a day)” . (HANDLE).

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