The exact number of coffees you need to drink to slash your risk of silent killers

COFFEE can keep you slim and reduce your diabetes risk, a study claims.

Drinking just three cups of Joe a day may be enough to reduce the risk, Swedish researchers said.

They found high levels of caffeine in the blood were linked to lower rates of obesity and type 2 diabetes.

Weight loss was behind nearly half of the benefits of caffeine on the common condition.

Dr Susanna Larson, of the Karolinska Institutet in Stockholm, said further studies on how calorie-free, caffeinated drinks “might play a role in reducing the risk of obesity” are needed.

She said: “Our findings suggest that caffeine might, at least in part, explain the inverse association between coffee consumption and risk of type 2 diabetes.”

Independent experts said the study was in line with other evidence, suggesting caffeine can boost the metabolism by 3 to 11 per cent.

Around a quarter of adults in England are obese, while a further 38 per cent are overweight.

Some 4.2million people are thought to live with type 2 diabetes in the UK.

The condition causes sugar levels in the blood to become too high and is more likely if you are carrying too much weight.

Previous research has linked drinking coffee with reducing the risks of diabetes, as well as other obesity-related conditions like heart disease.

The latest study, published in , sought to determine whether the caffeine in the drink can lower the chances of developing the conditions.

Researchers highlighted previous studies showing drinking three to five cups a day could help reduce both.

They tracked how likely people were to drink a lot of caffeine based on their genes.

The team then compared this to whether they were obese or had type 2 diabetes.

Coffee guzzlers had significantly lower body weight and bodyfat and were at lower risk for the disease.

Dr Dipender Gill, a clinical scientist at Imperial College London, who also worked on the study, said the study will direct further research, including on whether drinking more coffee can help people stay slim.

However, people should not change their habits for now, he said.

Dr Gill said: “Certainly people shouldn’t start drinking more coffee or tea to try and lose weight, and that’s also because coffee and tea and caffeine can have adverse effects as well.

“So some people might find it difficult to sleep and some people can get palpitations, so I think, based on this study, people should not change their lifestyle or behaviour, but our findings should be used to direct further research including potential clinical studies.”

Dr Stephen Lawrence, of the University of Warwick, who was not involved in the study, said: “Should people drink more coffee to reduce fat or diabetes risk?

“The science suggests relatively good evidence that consuming caffeine increases fat burning, even at rest.

“However, it does not constitute a treatment for obesity and, used wrongly, may result in weight gain or even harm.”