Who the heck knows?

According to two studies published in the Journal of the American Medical Association the opposite is true and it states if you have diabetes you should get rid of caffeine.

Duke University Medical Centre in a 2004 study proved that caffeine ingestion significantly impairs the control of blood sugar and insulin after a meal.

According to one study, if youre under 60 years of age it can actually help you lose weight and over 60, well then youre on your own. A recent study provided by the International Journal of Obesity shows that with a study group of 7006 people, aged 32-88, there were significant interactions between age and caffeine and ground coffee. The study proved further that for people under the age of 60, caffeine and ground coffee would decrease the risk of diabetes as would ground decaffeinated and regular tea. However, it was concluded that the negative relationship between diabetes risk and coffee consumption only applied to those who previously lost weight.

Harvard School of Public Health researchers report that having more than four cups of coffee a day can be associated with lower risk of type 2 diabetes.

University of Guelph Researcher, Terry Graham says, "We found that obese individuals have a resistance to insulin, which means they require higher levels of insulin to adjust their glucose levels. When given caffeine, their insulin levels go through the roof," says Graham.

Clearly, there are no real answers. It seems that caffeine studies need to be more conclusive and the control groups may need to be a little tighter. People who drink and eat caffeine may also be eating and drinking other ingredients in these studies, which may affect the results.

Diabetes affects 18.2 million people in the US, according to the American Diabetes Association. Thats 6.3% of the population with known diabetes. There are still 5.2 million people who do not know they have the disease, thats 13 million Americans.