pa href=http://hayesjeff.typepad.com/.a/6a00e00986beda8833010536f11106970b-pi style=FLOAT: rightimg alt=Coffee-and-caffeine class=at-xid-6a00e00986beda8833010536f11106970b src=http://hayesjeff.typepad.com/.a/6a00e00986beda8833010536f11106970b-320wi style=MARGIN: 0px 0px 5px 5px //a The anonymous quot;Caffeine Freakquot; asked this question recently, and it seems the quot;researchquot; on caffeine and its risks or benefits changes daily. So I did some digging and found.../p pFrom Sue: Dr. Sears recommends limiting caffeine (switching to decaf or drinking tea instead) because it raises insulin levels. But quot;ifquot; you were going to have that morning#0160; coffee, it should be with a meal to keep your blood sugar more stable./p pAlso, our infamous bloggers went back and forth trying to find#0160;evidence supporting the quot;caffeine raises insulin levelsquot;#0160;claims and couldn#39;t find anything - either on Dr. Sears#39; site or elsewhere. But the following recent articles#0160;show all of the benefits of caffeine, including a reduction in the risk of developing diabetes:/p p1) strongCoffee, if anything, is good for you - May 2008 - From Health Magazine/strong br /br /Coffee comes from a plant that has healthy photochemicals that act as antioxidants. A Harvard study of more than 125,000 regular coffee drinkers found a reduced risk of Type 2 diabetes by 30%. Other studies have suggested a reduced risk associated with Parkinson’s Disease, colon cancer, and gallstones by coffee consumption. 2 -3 cups a day is the suggested level of consumption; however, if the caffeine jolt is disturbing decaf should be substituted.#0160;br /br /Note:There is no mention of sugar or cream in the article! The addition of sugar in particular can more than offset any benefits from the consumption of coffee and is to be avoided. Cream – real cream – and “half and half”, contain large amounts of fat and is also to be avoided. Significant amounts of fat are contained even in “2%”. If you like your coffee light or very light, only 1% of skim should be used- or better yet – a light soy based milk. br //p p2) strongCoffee May Protect Against Diabetes - By Salynn Boyles - WebMD Health News/strong#0160;/p pOct. 25, 2006 -- There is more evidence that the American love affair with coffee is helping to reduce the risk of diabetes. Drinking caffeinated coffee was found to reduce the risk of developing type 2 diabetes by as much as 60% in a newly published study that included people at high risk for the disease. Even those who used to drink coffee but quit were less likely to develop diabetes than those who never drank it. The new study was published in the November issue of the journal Diabetes Care.#0160;br /#0160;/p p3)#0160; strongNot so controversial anymore#0160;-#0160;panel says moderate coffee drinking reduces many risks -/strong April 30, 2007#0160; br /br /Although the American Society for Nutrition’s popular “controversy session” at Experimental Biology 2007 focuses on the health effects of coffee drinking, panel chair br /Dr. James Coughlin, a toxicology/safety consultant at Coughlin amp; Associates, says that#0160;br /recent advances in epidemiologic and experimental knowledge have transformed many of the negative health myths about coffee drinking into validated health benefits.#0160;br /br /Coffee is among the most widely consumed beverages in the world, and Dr. Coughlin says that#0160;preponderance of scientific evidence - some by the panelists - suggests that moderate coffee consumption (3-5 cups per day) may be associated with reduced risk of certain disease conditions, such as Parkinson’s disease. br /br /-*-*-* Some research in neuropharamacology suggests that one cup of coffee can halve the risk of Parkinson’s disease. br /br /-*-*-* Other studies have found it reduces the risk of Alzheimer#39;s disease, kidney stones, gallstones, depression and even suicide.#0160;br /br /#0160;br /4) Dr. Lenore Arab, a nutritional epidemiologist in the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, notes that the first coffee controversy dates back 430 years when in 1570 some monks petitioned the pope to condemn this drink, so popular among Muslims. Pope Clement VIII, liking how it kept the monks from falling sleep during mass, purportedly blessed it instead. The rest, including the United States’ wholesale conversion to coffee following the Boston Tea Party, is history. br /br /In reviewing the latest epidemiologic literature on cancers and coffee, Dr. Arab has found there to be close to 400 studies of the associations between coffee consumption and cancers various at various sites. The earlier controversy with regard to colon cancer was based on flawed analyses, she says. More thorough analyses and the accumulation of evidence suggest no negative effect on the incidence of colon cancer, and possible protective effects for adenomas of the colon as well as for rectal cancer and liver cancer.#0160;br /br /Source: Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology /p pstrongOK. If you got through all of that,#0160;good for you. Now, why not#0160;weigh in on this topic?br //strongbr //p