The benefits of coffee have long been known, such as keeping the skin healthy, keeping the mind alert, preventing heart disease and some cancers, and even lowering blood pressure.  But just recently, a new study suggests that coffee gives drinkers another benefit: it lowers your risk for type 2 diabetes.

The relationship between this beverage and diabetes type 2 isn’t exactly new. Some studies made in the past have suggested that drinking a few cups of coffee could lower your risk. In the latest study however, which was published by the Diabetologia journal, it was concerned mostly on how changing your coffee consumption would affect your risk.

The study concluded that those who increased their consumption by more than a cup each day could lower their risk by 11% as compared to those who consumed the same amount of coffee daily. On the other hand, decreasing your consumption of coffee by more than a cup per day could make you more susceptible to type 2 diabetes, increasing your risk by approximately 17%.

The data was obtained from analyzing over a hundred thousand health professionals that have been observed over a long period of time. So now the question is, how much coffee do you really need to benefit from it?  Experts say that for type 2 diabetes, drinking up to 6 cups of coffee daily will lower your risk. So as long as it doesn’t trigger tremors then it will give you a lot of benefits.

But how exactly does coffee work to prevent diabetes type 2? The answer is not very clear however based on animal research it was found that the chemicals found in coffee such as lignans and phenolic compounds improve glucose metabolism. Additionally, coffee contains high levels of magnesium which also work to lower the risk.

But before you head out to Starbucks, remember that your choice of coffee is important. Those that are laden with sugar such as lattes, fraps, and all those specialty drinks have not been studied. Rather, the study focused on the regular 8oz black coffee containing about 100mg caffeine. Obviously, the higher the sugar content, the higher it puts you at risk of diabetes.

And even though coffee has been associated with a decrease in some diseases and lengthens your life span overall, scientists are still not ready to call it a panacea. Further studies need to be made before the medical community can finally be able to say that coffee is the solution to the world’s most common health problems. But, that shouldn’t stop you from drinking another cup right now, right?

On the other hand, if you’re already suffering from diabetes or suspect that you have it, make sure to check with your doctor for the right treatment. After all, coffee can help prevent the disease but it’s not exactly a treatment.