Coffee drinking is associated with a lower death risk, according to a new study, whether your choice of the brew is regular or decaffeinated, hot or cold – though we can't vouch for all the extra stuff you ask the barista to add to your drink.
The study published online in the American Heart Association journal
Circulation said researchers crunched data from U.S. adult surveys on coffee consumption, per
CNN, and took into account other foods and drinks while examining death rates and disease over two decades.
"We examined the associations of consumption of total, caffeinated, and decaffeinated coffee with risk of subsequent total and cause-specific mortality among 74,890 women in the Nurses' Health Study, 93,054 women in the NHS 2, and 40,557 men in the Health Professionals Follow-up Study," said the researchers.
"Compared to non-drinkers, coffee consumption of one to five cups (per day) was associated with lower risk of mortality, while coffee consumption more than five cups/d was not associated with risk of mortality."
When researchers targeted coffee consumption among people who said they never smoked, the relationship coffee and health stuck out, said CNN. Those who drank between less than a cup of coffee and three cups a day had six to eight percent lower risk of dying than non-coffee drinkers.
Those who drank three to five cups and more than five cups had 15 percent and 12 percent lower death rates.
"The lower risk of mortality is consistent with our hypothesis that coffee consumption could be good for you (because) we have published papers showing that coffee consumption is associated with lower risk of Type 2 diabetes and (heart) disease," Ming Ding, a doctoral student in the Harvard School of Public Health department of nutrition, told CNN.
The research suggests there may be an active component other than caffeine in the beverage that provides some productive benefit, said
Newsweek, noting that coffee is a source of antioxidants and B vitamins.
"The authors of the new study suggest that certain compounds present in coffee — including chlorogenic acid, lignans, quinides, trigonelline and magnesium — may have an anti-inflammatory effect and reduce insulin resistance," wrote Newsweek's Jessica Firger. "But more studies are needed to confirm coffee's observed protective effect."
Other studies found that too much coffee could lead to anxiety, jitteriness and insomnia.
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