type 2 diabetes

Factsheet for professionals

Diabetes, a challenge to public health

• Europe has one of the highest prevalences of diabetes with 55 million sufferers – 6.7% of Europe’s population. Of this, 38.6% of cases remain undiagnosed, which means that 21.2 million Europeans are unaware that they have diabetes. It is predicted that by 2030 the number of people with diabetes in the EU will rise to 64 million¹.
• Once a disease of old age, diabetes is now increasingly affecting adolescents and children and the highest increase is in the 30-40 year-old age group².
• The World Health Organisation predicts that deaths caused by diabetes will increase by two thirds between 2008 and 2030³. In 2012, 4.8 million people died and $471 billion were spent as a result of diabetes¹.
• The twin epidemics of obesity and diabetes already represent the biggest public health challenge of the 21st century. It is estimated that at least half of all diabetes cases would be eliminated if weight gain in adults could be prevented⁴.

For more information, see also : http://whqlibdoc.who.int/trs/who_trs_916.pdf

 

Coffee consumption and type 2 diabetes

• Several scientific studies show that moderate coffee consumption is associated with a reduced risk of developing type 2 diabetes.
• The association is documented in several different population groups and the risk of developing type 2 diabetes decreases as coffee consumption increases, with a significant effect already observed for 3-4 cups of coffee a day⁵.
• The mechanisms underlying the association between moderate coffee consumption and reduced risk of developing type 2 diabetes need further investigation.
  • It is unlikely that caffeine is responsible for the effect since consumption of decaffeinated coffee is also linked to a reduced risk of developing type 2 diabetes.
  • Recent research suggests that other coffee constituents, such as naturally-occuring antioxidants in coffee, may be involved.