If you love coffee then keep reading, because I’ve got good news about your beloved daily drink that many medical “experts” have implored you to steer well clear of.
They claim studies performed over the last century link coffee drinking to a wide range of diseases. However, those coffee drinkers were often smokers, and researchers rarely took this factor into consideration when they proffered their anti-coffee advice. Here’s the truth…
Since coffee is one of the world's most popular hot beverages, scientists have carried out multiple studies to see what effects it has on our health.
Today, the best population studies account for many more variables that have an influence on health. Now, the latest coffee study from Europe is welcome news to coffee lovers.
In contrast to research carried out decades ago suggesting coffee is detrimental to health, recent studies show coffee has preventative roles against obesity, type-2 diabetes, Parkinson's disease. dementia and cancer.
But little has been found about its long-term impact on cardiovascular health and mortality. To fill this gap, scientists turned to research from the UK Biobank.
The Largest Study of its Kind
The UK Biobank is a large-scale biomedical database containing in-depth health, genetic and lifestyle information on British participants and is a boon to modern-day scientists.From this resource researchers at Semmelweis University in Budapest, Hungary, and Queen Mary University of London analyzed data on 468,629 men and women with an average age of 56 and without heart disease upon study enrollment.
Researchers divided coffee consumption into three groups: zero/infrequent, light-to-moderate (½ to three cups per day) and high (greater than three cups per day). They also noted the type of coffee consumed.
A subgroup of 30,650 participants underwent cardiac MRI scans to assess heart structure and function. After a follow up period of ten to 15 years, the researchers adjusted the findings for factors that could influence the relationship between coffee and health. These factors included age, gender, height, weight, smoking status, physical activity, high blood pressure, diabetes, cholesterol level, socioeconomic status and intakes of alcohol, meat, tea, fruit, and vegetables.
Coffee Drinking Reduces the Risk of Death By 12 Percent
Dr. Judit Simon summed up the main findings, saying, “Light-to-moderate coffee consumption was associated with a 12 percent lower risk of overall mortality, and with a 17 percent lower risk of death caused by cardiovascular diseases compared to non-coffee drinkers. In addition, from half to three cups of coffee was associated with a 21 percent lower risk of stroke.”Some researchers wondered if the caffeine was one of the key beneficial factors, but the research shows otherwise. The scientists wrote: “The research also found that even decaffeinated coffee was associated with lower all-cause mortality risk which also suggests that it’s not only the caffeine which plays a role in the positive effects of coffee.
“The imaging analysis indicated that compared with participants who did not drink coffee regularly, daily consumers had healthier sized and better functioning hearts. This was consistent with reversing the detrimental effects of aging on the heart.”
Dr. Simon’s colleague, Dr. Pál Maurovich-Horvat, explained, saying, “It’s also important to highlight that even for those who were heavy coffee-drinkers, we did not find evidence of negative cardiovascular consequences. However, there were no positive health benefits observed in this group - as in the group of the light-to-moderate drinkers.”
To add another layer, a third member of the research team, Dr. Zahra Raisi-Estabragh, commented on the importance of drinking ground coffee instead of instant if you want to reap heart health and longevity benefits.
“The ground coffee in moderate amounts was associated with lower mortality risk – but this benefit was not found amongst the regular instant coffee drinkers. The reason behind this may relate to the different production process of the ground and instant forms as they contain different additives.”
- https://www.qmul.ac.uk/media/news/2022/smd/new-study-shows-light-to-moderate-coffee-consumption-
is-associated-with-health-benefits-.html - https://www.escardio.org/The-ESC/Press-Office/Press-releases/Light-to-moderate-coffee-drinking-
associated-with-health-benefits - https://academic.oup.com/eurjpc/advance-article/doi/10.1093/eurjpc/zwac008/6512055?login=false
