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Drinking Coffee May Extend Life
Study suggests but doesn't prove link between coffee
and longer life
By Salynn Boyles
WebMD Health News
Coffee drinkers, rejoice. While you might be using
it for a "pick-me-up," coffee may also be extending
your life.
Whether you are on a first-name basis with your
barista or simply refueling from the office coffee
pot during the day, new research suggests that
drinking coffee, even in large amounts, might help
you live longer.
Coffee drinkers in the study had slightly lower
death rates than non-coffee drinkers over time,
whether their drink of choice had caffeine or not.
The
findings do not prove that coffee is protective, but
they strongly suggest that drinking coffee in large
amounts is not harmful if you are healthy,
researcher Esther Lopez-Garcia, PhD, of the
University of Madrid, tells WebMD.
Among women, drinking two to three cups of coffee a
day was associated with an 18% reduction in death
from all causes, while drinking four to five cups
was associated with a 26% reduction in risk.
The
risk reduction in men was smaller and could have
been due to chance.
"We
can't say from this one study that coffee extends
your life, but it does appear that it doesn't
increase the risk for death for people who are
healthy," she says.
Coffee, Caffeine, and Health
The
evidence pointing to health benefits for coffee
continue to grow, with studies linking regular
consumption to a decreased risk for cardiovascular
disease, diabetes, and even health conditions like
Parkinson's disease and colon cancer.
But
some studies also suggest that drinking caffeinated
coffee is associated with an increased risk for
heart attack and stroke in people who already have
heart disease.
The
American Heart Association concludes that the
research linking caffeine to health risks is
conflicting. The group concludes that moderate
coffee consumption, defined as one or two cups a
day, "doesn't seem to be harmful."
The
few previous studies that have examined the impact
of regular coffee drinking on mortality have also
been conflicting, Lopez-Garcia says.
In
an effort to clarify the issue, Lopez-Garcia and
colleagues from the University of Madrid and Harvard
University analyzed data from 84,214 women who
participated in Harvard's Nurse's Health Study and
41,736 men who participated in the companion study
involving male health professionals.
None
of the participants had cancer or heart disease at
enrollment, and all completed dietary and health
questionnaires every two to four years that included
questions about coffee consumption, other dietary
habits, and smoking status.
During 18 years of follow-up in the men and 24 years
of follow-up in the women, roughly 4,500 deaths due
to heart disease and 7,500 cancer deaths occurred.
An additional 6,000 deaths were due to other causes.
After controlling for other risk factors such as
weight, diet, smoking status, and disease status,
the researchers concluded that people who drank
coffee were less likely to die than those who didn't
during the follow-up, and that the risk reduction
was attributable to a lower risk for death from
heart disease.
No
association was seen between coffee drinking and
cancer deaths.
The
researchers conclude that the finding of a "modest"
all-cause and heart disease death benefit for coffee
consumption deserves further study.
The
research appears in the June 17 issue of the journal
Annals of Internal Medicine.
Coffee Benefits Explored
It
has been suggested that coffee may protect against
heart disease by reducing inflammation. Coffee has
also been shown to lower blood sugar levels, which
could have a beneficial effect on diabetes risk.
For
many people, coffee is the main dietary source of
beneficial plant compounds known as polyphenols,
which are powerful antioxidants, says coffee
researcher and chemistry professor Joe Vinson, PhD.
"The
antioxidant properties may or may not be the
mechanism at work here. We can't really say," he
tells WebMD.
Vinson says the newly reported study offers the best
evidence yet linking coffee with a lower risk of
death.
"This was a very rigorously designed study, and the
findings are very intriguing," he says.
©
WebMD. All rights reserved.
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"We can't say from this one study that coffee
extends your life, but it does appear that it
doesn't increase the risk for death for people
who are healthy" |
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