Coffee Drinkers Live Longer

Coffee drinkers live longer — and over 3-4 cups per day was even better. That is the conclusion of two new, very large studies published this week. They found that those who drank three or more cups a day had an 18% lower risk of death for men. Women in the study had a 8% lower risk of death.

Both studies were published this week in Annals of Internal Medicine, one of the most respected medical journals in the world.

In the first study, the researchers followed over 500,000 people for 16 years. In addition to lowering death rates, the study also got blood work from about 15,000 people. Those results showed that coffee drinkers had better liver enzymes numbers and better sugars than those who did not drink coffee.

The second study wanted to see if these results were the same for everyone. They looked at groups of African Americans, Japanese Americans, Latinos and whites. They found that those who drank 4 or more cups of coffee a day, had an 18% lower risk of dying prematurely in the 16 years of follow-up.

The study also showed that even just 1 cup per day lowered your risk for death by 12%.

More specifically, the studies showed fewer deaths due to heart disease, cancer, respiratory disease, stroke, diabetes and kidney disease. The larger study (based in 10 European countries) showed that coffee also lowered the risk of liver disease, cancer in women and even suicide in men.

Coffee Drinking Evidence Keeps Coming Up Positive

These two studies follow the announcements in 2015, which made a lot of headlines by showing that people in the US who drank 2-3 cups per day lowered their risk of death by 18%.

Also in 2015, a study out of the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute showed that for people with Stage III colon cancer, drinking 4 cups of coffee per day lowered your risk of dying from the cancer by 33%. 42% were less likely to see their cancer return after remission.

In short, “There is an accumulating number of studies of very high quality that show that people who drink more coffee tend to have better health outcomes,” said Dr. Marc J. Gunter of Imperial College London.

How Does Coffee Drinking Help?

Coffee has a lot of different compounds, including anti-oxidants. In fact, studies have show that some of these compounds have anti-inflammatory properties and some may protect the brain and nerves.

In this most recent study, coffee drinkers were found to have better cholesterol profiles, better sugar control and lower levels of inflammation.

What is the Take Away Message?

Coffee can be part of a healthy, balanced lifestyle, and it may even do some good. With that said, there is not enough evidence to suggest people who don’t drink coffee need to quit the gym and instead go to coffee houses.

Interestingly, the health benefit for decaf coffee appeared to be similar–so there is no need to inject caffeine into your coffee if that’s not your thing.

The good news is that if you are a coffee drinker, it does appear to be a healthy option — and it may even lower your risk for death and certain diseases. On the other hand, tea drinkers need not throw their tea into the Chesapeake Bay, yet.

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