Drinking several cups of coffee daily reduces type 2 diabetes risk because it inhibits a substance linked to the disease, scientists in China suggest. Ling Zheng, Kun Huang and colleagues say previous studies show people who drink four or more cups of coffee daily have a 50 percent lower risk of type 2 diabetes. Every additional cup of coffee decreases the risk by almost 7 percent, the researchers said. Scientists said the misfolding of the substance human islet amyloid polypeptide has been increasingly considered a pathogenic process in type 2 diabetes. The study, published in the Journal of Agricultural & Food Chemistry, identified two categories of compounds in coffee that significantly inhibited human islet amyloid polypeptide. The findings suggest this explains why coffee drinkers show a lower risk for developing diabetes. \"A beneficial effect may thus be expected for a regular coffee drinker,\" the researchers concluded.