Drinking two to three cups of coffee (instant, ground or decaffeinated) per day is linked with a lower risk of cardiovascular disease and a longer life.
A 2022 study, published in the European Journal of Preventative Cardiology (1) used data from people aged 40-69 from the UK Biobank. Almost 450,00 people (55.3 percent female and median age 58). All respondents filled in a questionnaire on coffee consumption and researchers analysed the data by how many cups and what type of coffee was drunk; (18.4% drank ground, 15.2% decaffeinated and 44.1% instant. 22.4% were non-drinkers).
The median follow up time was 12.5 years, and during the study 6.2% of participants died. At the outset, all participants were free from heart issues.
Risk of death reduction was greatest when consuming 2-3 cups per day and ground coffee drinkers at 27% had the lowest risk of death, with 14% lowered risk for decaffeinated and 11% for instant.
Cardiovascular risk reduction was again lowest for people drinking 2-3 cups per day, with ground at -20%, instant at -9% and decaffeinated at -6%.
Surprisingly, arrhythmia (including atrial fibrillation) was associated with a peak lowered risk at 5-6 cups per day when drinking real ground coffee (17%). For instant coffee, 2-3 cups a day produced a 12% decreased risk. No decreased risk was observed with decaffeinated.
Professor Peter Kistler of the Baker Heart and Diabetes Research Institute, Melbourne, the study author said, “The results suggest that mild to moderate intake of ground, instant and decaffeinated coffee should be considered part of a healthy lifestyle.”
This is not the first time benefits for coffee drinking have been shown. For example, the Gastrointestinal Cancer Centre at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute showed that people treated for colorectal cancer had less recurrence when consuming 4 cups of real coffee per day (2), and in 2017 there was research from Italy on preventing prostate cancer, and other studies from Southampton University on liver cancer. In those studies the ‘healthy ingredients’ were deemed to be the polyphenols Cafestol and Kahweol (3).
Go to: Eating red and processed meats increases heart disease risk
*****
References
- The impact of coffee subtypes on incident cardiovascular disease, arrhythmias, and mortality: long-term outcomes from the UK Biobank; David Chienget al; European Journal of Preventive Cardiology, 2022; DOI: 10.1093/eurjpc/zwac189
- Regular cups of caffeinated coffee increase chances of surviving bowel cancer; Dana-Faber 2015
- A coffee a day keeps cancer at bay
