Researchers said on Friday that people who boosted their coffee intake by "moderate to large" doses had a lower risk for adult-onset diabetes than those with stable consumption.
An analysis of US studies that tracked the diet and lifestyles of more than 120,000 health sector workers, showed that those who increased their daily caffeine dose by about 1.5 cups a day over a four-year period had an 11-percent lower chance of developing type 2 diabetes.
The analysis was based on monitoring more than 95,000 women enrolled in two nurses' health studies in the United States, and about 28,000 male participants in a separate health professionals' study.
The researchers had found that neither changes in consumption of tea, nor of decaffeinated coffee, was linked to risk of type 2 diabetes -- a high blood sugar disease often associated with obesity.
Diabetes is a chronic disease that occurs when the pancreas does not produce enough insulin, or when the body cannot effectively use the insulin it produces.
Hyperglycaemia, or raised blood sugar, is a common effect of diabetes and could lead to serious damage to many of the body's systems, especially the nerves and blood vessels.
About 347 million people worldwide have diabetes.