Need an excuse to drink yet another cup of coffee today? A new study suggests that increasing coffee consumption may decrease the risk for type 2 diabetes.

The apparent relationship between coffee and type 2 diabetes is not new. Previous studies have found that drinking a few cups or more each day may lower your risk – with each subsequent cup nudging up the benefit.

This most recent study, published in the journal Diabetologia, was more concerned with how changing coffee consumption – either increasing it or decreasing it over time – might affect your risk.

The conclusion: People who upped their consumption by more than a cup per day had an 11% lower risk of type 2 diabetes compared with people whose consumption held steady. Decreasing coffee consumption by the same amount – more than a cup a day – was associated with a 17% increased risk of type 2 diabetes.

The data is based on an analysis of more than 120,000 health professionals already being followed observationally long term. Researchers looked at the study participants' coffee drinking habits across four years to reach their conclusions.

Just how much coffee each day provides a benefit?

Read - Coffee may reduce risk for type 2 diabetes

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