Recent diabetes research whose findings have been published in the BMJ Open Diabetes Research & Care journal suggests that people with diabetes are likely to have a lower mortality rate when they drink coffee and green tea on a daily basis.

The research conducted over five years revealed that diabetics who drank two or more cups of coffee and four or more cups of tea were 63% less likely to die from diabetes than their counterparts. Individuals with type 2 diabetes are at a higher risk of other illnesses such as cancer, dementia, circulatory illnesses, and other types of diseases.

Therapeutic options have increased over the past few years, but the best approach to living a healthy life despite having diabetes is to exercise regularly while maintaining a healthy diet. Researchers previously suspected that regularly drinking coffee and green tea could be beneficial because they contain bioactive compounds.

Breaking down the numbers and the odds

The researchers monitored 4923 people with type 2 diabetes in Japan for a five-year period as part of the study. The participants’ average age in the research was 66-years-old, and 2790 were men while 2133 were women. 218 men and 91 women died during the five years. The main causes of death were cardiovascular disease and cancer. The researchers found that those who did not drink coffee or tea had a higher mortality rate than their counterparts who drank high quantities of coffee and green tea.

According to the study, a diabetic is 15% less likely to die of diabetes and other related complications when drinking one cup of green tea every day. The odds are more favorable at 27% if they drink 2 or 3 cups of green tea daily. The odds of death reduced by 40% when diabetics drink four or more cups of coffee daily.

Despite observing the above findings, the researchers are yet to understand the mechanisms involved. However, there is speculation that both green tea and coffee contain anti-inflammatory compounds and antioxidants that impact insulin production.