♦ Coffee polyphenols are claimed to reduce the incidence of type 2 diabetes by regulating a the insulin-regulated intestinal peptide.

Coffee does more than just offer an energizing pick me up. For a number of years there had been mounting evidence that the coffee polyphenols have nutritional benefits as well as the caffeine levels contained therein.  FoodWrite reported a couple of years ago on the benefits of taking the green coffee bean extracts because of their health properties especially in regards to ameliorating the effects of type 2 diabetes.

Further research by the Kao Corporation in Tochigi, Japan has built on various animal and human clinical studies that showed a link between coffee and diabetes by examining the glucagon-like peptide 1 (GLP-1) which is involved in glucose homeostasis as well as insulin.

As the abstract states:-

“Glucagon-like peptide 1 (GLP-1) is a major intestinal hormone that stimulates glucose-induced insulin secretion from β cells. Prolonged activation of the GLP-1 signal has been shown to attenuate diabetes in animals and human subjects. Therefore, GLP-1 secretagogues are attractive targets for the treatment of diabetes.”

The paper highlights in its introduction that 382 million people exist with diabetes globally as reported in 2014 and this number is set to rise to over 592 million by 2035.

The scientists reasoned that polyphenols in coffee could serve as exogenous physiological regulators for the section of the hormone incretin which influenced blood glucose homeostasis. The upshot was a significant push towards developing GLP-1 based therapies in the treatment of the growing menace of diabetes.

A mouse study found that a coffee polyphenol extract (CPE) could induce GLP-1 secretion with concomitant decreases in post-meal (postprandial) hyperglycaemia. In other words, the polyphenols could lower the rise in blood glucose levels following a meal.   It suggested that taking CPE could improve insulin sensitivity and so reduce diabetes 2 from beginning.

References

Fujii, Y., Osaki, N., Hase, T., Shimotoyodome, A. (2015). Ingestion of coffee polyphenols increases postprandial release of the active glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1(7–36)) amide in C57BL/6J mice. J. Nutr. Sci., 4,  DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/jns.2014.71 (About DOI), Published online: 03 March 2015

International Diabetes Federation (2014) Diabetes Altas, 6th ed., 2014 update. http://www.idf.org/diabetesatlas (accessed 5th February 2015).