A scientific study that lasted for one decade, conducted in the US, has shown that people who consumed coffee on a regular basis had fewer chances of dying of many different causes (like diabetes and heart disease) compared to those who avoided coffee.
As a matter of fact, the larger quantities of coffee these participants have taken, the fewer chances of dying they had. Even decaffeinated coffee drinkers have shown similar results.
According to Dr. Erikka Lotfield, a scientist from the National Cancer Institute in Rockville, Maryland who led this project, coffee is rich in many different bioactive compounds like potassium, caffeine, and phenolic acids.
Numerous scientific studies have confirmed that regular coffee consumption is tied to a decreased risk of mortality related to heart problems and overall mortality and this is what Lotftfield has highlighted too.
Actually, the scientists relied on data from a study conducted about 6 years ago where about 90.000 adult people that didn’t have problems with heart disease and cancer were examined from time to time in a period of 10 years. The subjects had to report their coffee consumption and some other basic information about their diet and health at the beginning of the study.
When the study finally ended, about 10% of the participants died. When the scientists accounted for some other risk factors like smoking and drinking, they’ve realized that people who drink coffee had smaller chances to die compared to people who don’t drink coffee.
What is even more interesting is that people who had between four and five cups of coffee each day had the lowest risk of death. The results were published in the reputed American Journal of Epidemiology and these results show the decaf coffee drinkers have shown similar results.
People who drink coffee had fewer chances of dying from chronic respiratory diseases, pneumonia, diabetes, influenza, heart disease, and suicide. However, the chances of dying from cancer were the same.
According to Loftfield, even though drinking coffee regularly has been related to the rates of occurrence of some types of cancer like liver cancer, the study didn’t show any connection between coffee drinking and overall cancer death rates. However, there are still chances that coffee can help patients with some types of cancer.
Coffee drinkers who had 2-3 cups of coffee each day had about 18% lower chances of dying compared to people who didn’t drink coffee at all. Loftfield has also pointed out that drinking 5 cups of coffee a day or consuming 400 mg of caffeine each day is not related to any long=lasting health problems.
Reasonable coffee intake (about 200 mg of caffeine a day) is safe even when it comes to pregnant women and this fact was confirmed by the College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists from the USA.
According to Dr. Marc Gunter who works at the Imperial College in London, there are a huge number of scientific studies that have confirmed that coffee drinkers have better health.
In a statement given to Reuters Health, Mr. Gunter says that the habit of drinking coffee on a regular basis is associated with some other health behaviors. People who tend to drink coffee regularly usually have other healthy routines like being physically active and following a healthy eating routine. This is something that researchers need to take into consideration too.
Via Reuters
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