This study adds to the growing scientific data that suggests moderate coffee consumption, four to five cups of coffee per day, is safe and does not increase risk of chronic diseases."

Want to stave off diabetes? Drink four cups of coffee a day, recommends a new study. Previous researches suggested that drinking coffee cuts diabetes risk but there were conflicting results on whether it protects or promotes chronic diseases such as cancer. Now, a team in Europe claims to have found that moderate consumption of coffee everyday may lower a person's chances of developing type 2 diabetes compared with those drinking it occasionally or not at all. In fact, drinking coffee can cut the risk of developing diabetes by nearly 30 per cent, says the study which has also revealed that the drink does not increase the risk of heart disease or cancer, the 'Daily Mail' reported.

For their study, the researchers recruited 42,659 people. The volunteers, who took part in the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition (EPIC) Germany, were followed up for almost nine years on average. During that time, there were 1,432 cases of type 2 diabetes diagnosed, 394 heart attacks, 310 strokes cases and 1,801 cancer cases. Drinking more than four cups of coffee a day -- caffeinated and decaffeinated -- compared with less than one cup was not linked to a higher risk of developing a chronic disease, the findings revealed. A lower risk of 20-30 per cent of developing type 2 diabetes was linked to moderate consumption of both kinds of coffee, according to the findings published in the 'American Journal of Clinical Nutrition'.

Ten countries contribute to the EPIC study, including two centres in Germany which carried out the latest analysis. Euan Paul of British Coffee Association said: "This study adds to the growing scientific data that suggests moderate coffee consumption, four to five cups of coffee per day, is safe and does not increase risk of chronic diseases."