Good news for coffee lovers!
Drinking two to three cups of coffee a day is associated with a longer lifespan and a lower risk of cardiovascular disease compared with avoiding coffee. This is according to new research published on September 27 in the European Journal of Preventive Cardiology, a journal of the European Society of Cardiology (ESC). The findings of increased longevity applied to ground, instant, and decaffeinated varieties of coffee.
All types of coffee were linked with a reduction in death from any cause in the study. The greatest risk reduction was seen with two to three cups per day, with ground coffee providing the most benefit. Drinking two to three cups of ground coffee a day was associated with a 27% lower likelihood of death and a 20% reduced likelihood of cardiovascular disease.
“In this large, observational study, ground, instant, and decaffeinated coffee were associated with equivalent reductions in the incidence of cardiovascular disease and death from cardiovascular disease or any cause,” said study author Professor Peter Kistler. He is an international leader in cardiac arrhythmia research from the Baker Heart and Diabetes Research Institute, Melbourne, Australia. “The results suggest that mild to moderate intake of ground, instant, and decaffeinated coffee should be considered part of a healthy lifestyle.”
Included in the study were 449,563 participants free of arrhythmias or other cardiovascular diseases at baseline. The median age of participants was 58 years and 55.3% were women. A questionnaire was completed by participants, which asked how many cups of coffee they drank each day and whether they usually drank instant, ground (such as cappuccino or filtered coffee), or decaffeinated coffee. Additionally, they were grouped into six daily intake categories, consisting of none, less than one, one, two to three, four to five, and more than five cups per day. The usual coffee type was instant in 198,062 (44.1%) participants, ground in 82,575 (18.4%), and decaffeinated in 68,416 (15.2%). Non-coffee drinkers, who served as the comparator group, made up 100,510 (22.4%) of the participants.
Professor Kistler said: “Caffeine is the most well-known constituent in coffee, but the beverage contains more than 100 biologically active components. It is likely that the non-caffeinated compounds were responsible for the positive relationships observed between coffee drinking, cardiovascular disease, and survival. Our findings indicate that drinking modest amounts of coffee of all types should not be discouraged but can be enjoyed as a heart-healthy behavior.”
Full article at Sci Tech Daily.