In Utah where about 63 percent of men and 58 percent of women are overweight or obese and therefore very prone to developing the illness, health insurance companies are allowed to turn people down for individual insurance coverage because the illness is considered an "uninsurable" condition. Employer-based medical insurance plans may not turn diabetics down, but area underwriters say the cost of treating health problems resulting from obesity and diabetes is a key reason behind the annual double digit increases in the cost of health care the price of premiums to pay for it.

"Yes, there are many reasons to be motivated to finding ways to help control diabetes," said Lefevre, a Utah Science Technology and Research initiative professor who came to USU a year ago from the Pennington Biomedical Research Center in Louisiana where he served as chief of the Division of Functional Foods Research, as well as professor in the Division of Nutrition and Chronic Diseases. He is a fellow of the American Heart Association and advises various national councils on disease prevention.

The impact of a variety of dietary impacts on health is the general focus of his research, which currently has been pointing toward anthocyanins, the ubiquitous molecule that provides the rusty red or purple pigment in plants and berries.

"They have kind of popped out as offering potential," Lefevre said, noting that there are 20 population-based studies on the protective effects of coffee consumption that have indicated a risk or complication reduction of 20 to 60 percent among diabetics who drink just one or two cups a day.

Indications are and if initial data is correct, coffee is shown to help stop the liver from producing excess glucose, he said. "Coffee has a lot of antioxidants and that may protect the beta cells involved in diabetes from being damaged."

Following the research necessary to get to what works, scientists must also test for what doesn't, and what follow-up research recently has countered previous conclusions. For example, research concluding that coffee had a direct link to cancers and high blood pressure has been countered or at least mitigated in follow-up studies.

Lefevre is not unaware of the the unique dichotomy posed by where he is conducting his research: He has an abundant supply of diabetic subjects but a majority of whom consider drinking coffee against their religion.

"Of course, it's not promoting the drink but isolating what appears to be in coffee that we're trying to isolate," Lefevre said. Similar research at USU led to isolating conjugated linoleic acid, a compound found in soy that is now sold in pill form because of its clinically substantiated effect on the immune system and reducing cancer risks.

Recent research is revealing that diseases are complex combinations of multiple conditions — colon cancer is now thought to be the result of five different diseases working simultaneously.

"Research into exactly what prevents diseases is also becoming more sophisticated, in a way easier and harder at the same time," Lefevre said. "We're now able to look at much tinier pieces of the puzzle that are likely going to have enormous effects on our scientific understanding and our general good health."

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E-mail: jthalman@desnews.com