You may be the type of person that needs a cup of coffee every few hours to feel energized and power throughout the day. Many coffee drinkers think that the revitalizing and restorative features of the drink may be the only reason to gulp away.
But new research suggests those are just positive attributes to the beverage, studies have shows that coffee can actually extend life by reducing the risk of death from heart disease, diabetes and even cancer.
The information below was obtained from LiveScience.Com and the LA Times:
“Research found that people who drank caffeinated or decaffeinated coffee every day were less likely to die over a period of about 16 years, compared with people who didn’t drink coffee. Moreover, the more cups of coffee people consumed each day, the less likely they were to die from any cause during the studies than people who were not coffee drinkers, according to the findings, which were both published in the journal Annals of Internal Medicine.
These studies are in line with earlier findings that also showed a connection between higher rates of coffee consumption and a reduced risk of death, the researchers said.
In newer studies, the researchers analyzed data collected from more than 215,000 adults in the U.S., ages 45 to 75. Participants included African-Americans, Japanese Americans, Latinos, Native Hawaiians and Caucasians, who lived in Los Angeles or Hawaii and were all enrolled in the Multiethnic Cohort, an ongoing study examining lifestyle risk factors that may cause cancer in minority populations. People’s lifestyle habits, disease risks and genetic susceptibilities to cancer vary widely across different races and ethnicities, so the new finding that again linked coffee drinking with a lower risk of dying offers stronger evidence that coffee drinking is protective and is associated with lower mortality, said Veronica W. Setiawan, the lead author of that study and an associate professor of preventive medicine at the University of Southern California’s Keck School of Medicine in Los Angeles.
At the beginning of the study, each participant completed a lifestyle and dietary questionnaire asking them to describe how frequently they drank regular or decaffeinated coffee in the past year. The researchers found that during an average follow-up period of about 16 years, there were about 58,000 deaths among the participants.
The analysis also showed that participants who consumed an average of one cup of regular or decaffeinated coffee a day had about a 12 percent lower risk of death than participants who drank no coffee.
Participants who downed two to three cups of coffee a day, on average, were about 18 percent less likely to die than people who drank no java, according to the findings. The results held true in four out of five ethnic groups studied — all except Native Hawaiians — even after researchers took into account factors that could influence people’s coffee habits or their risk of death, such as smoking, alcohol use, physical activity and pre-existing illness.”
So, there you have it! Coffee may be the link to longer life. We would like all our patients to know that coffee isn’t right for everyone with digestive conditions, of course. For example, some people with acid reflux get heartburn when they have coffee, but it varies widely with brand, amount and individual factors and isn’t known to cause harm if it causes no symptoms. Some people with diarrhea disorders have problems with any caffeinated beverage, but often tolerate decaf fine. There is other research that indicates benefit to those with fatty liver when coffee is consumed regularly.
So, from our view, Salut!
For any additional information regarding dietary habits or restrictions, please contact the physicians at Genensis Healthcare Partners.
References:
Khan, Amina. 2012. Coffee linked to lower risk of death. La Times. http://articles.latimes.com/2012/may/16/science/la-sci-coffee-death-20120517.
Nierenberg, Cari. 2017. Brewing Up a Longer Life: Drink Coffee, Studies Suggest. LiveScience.Com. https://www.livescience.com/59759-drinking-coffee-linked-to-living-longer.html