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According to the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry, coffee contains approximately one gram of soluble fiber per cup. Soluble fiber is the type that can help lower cholesterol. This report is the latest in a growing trend of positive news about coffee.

When researchers at Harvard combined data from studies involving more than 193,000 subjects, they found that regular coffee drinkers had a significantly lower risk of type 2 diabetes than those who did not drink coffee.

The more they drank, the lower their risk.

Recent epidemiological studies haven’t found a connection with heart problems, despite popular beliefs. A study in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition reported that healthy people 65 and over who drank four or more cups of caffeinated beverages daily (primarily coffee) had a 53 percent lower risk of heart disease than non coffee drinkers.

It’s even more puzzling when you consider that the immediate effects of drinking coffee tend to raise heart rate and blood pressure and temporarily make cells more resistant to insulin.

According to Frank Hu, M.D., Ph.D., associate professor of nutrition and epidemiology at Harvard School of Public Health those effects are likely short-lived, as people develop a tolerance. He also stated that the beneficial components in coffee have stronger, more lasting effects.

The exact effects of coffee are still unclear as the studies weren’t designed to identify the cause and effect relationships. It is widely believed that antioxidants, such as chlorogenic acid (related to polyphenols in grapes), are likely players. Coffee has more of them per serving than blueberries do, making it the top source of antioxidants in our diets.

Antioxidants help quell inflammation, which might explain coffee’s effect in inflammation-related diseases like diabetes and heart disease. Magnesium in coffee might help make cells more sensitive to insulin. And caffeine seems to have its own beneficial effects; the diabetes studies found that those who drank regular coffee had lower risks of the disease than decaf drinkers.

Caffeinated-coffee drinking has also been linked with reduced risk of Parkinson’s disease, gallstones, cirrhosis and liver cancer.

Bottom Line: For healthy adults, having two or three cups of joe daily generally isn’t harmful and it may have health perks.

“For most people who enjoy coffee, there’s no reason to cut back.”  – Frank Hu, M.D., Ph.D., associate professor of nutrition and epidemiology at Harvard School of Public Health

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