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Study: Coffee May Reduce Type 2 Diabetes Risk If You Don't Add Sugar

The robusta coffee fruits are seen in Sao Gabriel da Palha, Espirito Santo state, Brazil May 2, 2018. Picture taken May 2, 2018. REUTERS/Jose Roberto Gomes/File Photo
The robusta coffee fruits are seen in Sao Gabriel da Palha, Espirito Santo state, Brazil May 2, 2018. Picture taken May 2, 2018. REUTERS/Jose Roberto Gomes/File Photo
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Study: Coffee May Reduce Type 2 Diabetes Risk If You Don't Add Sugar

The robusta coffee fruits are seen in Sao Gabriel da Palha, Espirito Santo state, Brazil May 2, 2018. Picture taken May 2, 2018. REUTERS/Jose Roberto Gomes/File Photo
The robusta coffee fruits are seen in Sao Gabriel da Palha, Espirito Santo state, Brazil May 2, 2018. Picture taken May 2, 2018. REUTERS/Jose Roberto Gomes/File Photo

Coffee may reduce your risk of type 2 diabetes - but only if you don't add sugar.

A study looked at the coffee consumption of almost 290,000 people, among whom close to 13,000 developed type 2 diabetes, The Dailymail reported.

They found people who drank black coffee had a 10 per cent lower risk of getting type 2 diabetes for each daily cup they consumed.

The benefit was much the same for those who added milk to their coffee.

But people who added sugar saw this benefit halved - their risk of type 2 diabetes was only five per cent lower per cup of coffee.

This was for people adding an average of one teaspoon of sugar to their coffee.

Coffee drinkers are known from previous evidence to gain less weight as they age, which may reduce their risk of type 2 diabetes.

Caffeine and plant compounds found within coffee may also reduce inflammation in the body linked to type 2 diabetes.

However adding sugar increases the chances of gaining weight.

A calorific cup of coffee with sugar doesn't fill people up like sugary foods, so they are unlikely to undo the damage by eating fewer calories in their meals and snacks.

Putting artificial sweeteners in coffee was also found to affect its apparent protection against type 2 diabetes.

The reduction in risk of type 2 diabetes per cup was only seven per cent when these were added.

Dr Matthias Henn, who led the study from Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, said: 'Drinking coffee may help lower diabetes risk, but adding sugar or sweeteners significantly reduces these benefits.'

He added: 'These differences in consumption patterns provided key insights into coffee's potential health effects.

'To maximise coffee's health effects, consider skipping sugar or any artificial sweetener.'

Researchers looked at female nurses and male health professionals involved in three large US health studies.

These people were asked about their coffee consumption every four years as part of a dietary questionnaire.

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Bull Sharks Linger in Warming Sydney Waters

A man watches large waves on Bondi Beach in Sydney on July 2, 2025, as large swells and high winds hit the east coast of Australia. (Photo by SAEED KHAN / AFP)
A man watches large waves on Bondi Beach in Sydney on July 2, 2025, as large swells and high winds hit the east coast of Australia. (Photo by SAEED KHAN / AFP)
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Bull Sharks Linger in Warming Sydney Waters

A man watches large waves on Bondi Beach in Sydney on July 2, 2025, as large swells and high winds hit the east coast of Australia. (Photo by SAEED KHAN / AFP)
A man watches large waves on Bondi Beach in Sydney on July 2, 2025, as large swells and high winds hit the east coast of Australia. (Photo by SAEED KHAN / AFP)

Bull sharks are lingering off Sydney's beaches for longer periods each year as oceans warm, researchers said Friday, predicting they may one day stay all year.

The predators are migratory, swimming north in winter when Sydney's long-term ocean temperatures dip below 19 degrees Celsius (66 degrees Fahrenheit) to bask in the balmier waters off Queensland.

A team of scientists looked at 15 years of acoustic tracking of 92 tagged migratory sharks in an area including Bondi Beach and Sydney Harbour.

Records show the sharks now spend an average of 15 days longer off Sydney's coast in summer than they did in 2009, said James Cook University researcher Nicolas Lubitz.

"If they're staying longer, it means that people and prey animals have a longer window of overlap with them."

Shark attacks are rare in ocean-loving Australia, and most serious bites are from three species: bull sharks, great whites, and tiger sharks, according to a national database.

There have been more than 1,200 shark incidents around Australia since 1791, of which over 250 resulted in death.

Researchers found an average warming of 0.57C in Bondi for the October-May period between 2006 and 2024, said the study published in the peer-reviewed journal Science of The Total Environment.

Over a longer period, remotely sensed summer sea-surface temperatures in the area rose an average 0.67C between 1982 and 2024, they said.

"If this trend persists, which it likely will, it just means that these animals are going to spend more and more time towards their seasonal distributional limit, which currently is southern and central New South Wales," Lubitz said.

"So it could be that a few decades from now, maybe bull sharks are present year-round in waters off Sydney," he added.

"While the chances of a shark bite, and shark bites in Australia in general, remain low, it just means that people have to be more aware of an increased window of bull shark presence in coastal waters off Sydney."

Climate change could also change breeding patterns, Lubitz said, with early evidence indicating juvenile sharks were appearing in rivers further south.

There was some evidence as well that summer habitats for great whites, which prefer colder waters, were decreasing in northern New South Wales and Queensland, he said.

Tagged sharks trigger an alarm when they swim within range of a network of receivers dotted around parts of the Australian coast, giving people real-time warnings on a mobile app of their presence at key locations.