Coffee is better in the morning than sugary juice in the morning.

A cup of coffee in the morning may be better than a sugary juice, at least for the much-publicised type 2 diabetes, research has found.

The exact reason why coffee reduces diabetes risk is unclear, but one possibility is that certain ingredients in coffee, such as magnesium or chlorogenic acid, improve the body's ability to regulate blood sugar. In addition, caffeine's metabolic stimulation may help control weight. When the body loses sensitivity to insulin, the risk of type 2 diabetes increases. This disorder is strongly associated with obesity. Compared to coffee drinkers, people who drank sugary soft drinks and fruit juices had a higher risk of obesity and diabetes.

Hopkins based its findings on data from a survey of 12204 middle-aged adults in the United States. These people were followed between 1987 and 1999, and none of them had a history of diabetes at the start. After careful questioning of participants about their diet and adjusting for other factors, the researchers found that coffee drinkers still had a lower risk of developing type 2 diabetes, with less than a third of those who drank four or more cups of coffee a day being diagnosed with diabetes. But the researchers say more research is needed to determine whether coffee itself has a real impact on diabetes risk.