There is something new for coffee lovers to celebrate. A study, done recently has proven that consuming coffee is linked to lowering risk of dying early. This is regardless of how much or the amount of caffeine, you consume as proven by a study made by JAMA Internal Medicine.
“We observed an inverse association for coffee drinking with mortality, including among participants who reported drinking at least one cup per day, up to eight or more cups per day, as well as those drinking filtered, instant and decaffeinated coffee,” states Dr. Erikka Loftfield, the lead researcher at the National Cancer Institute.
The researchers came up with health questionnaires answered by various adults who consume coffee then had a physical examination also providing biological samples. The study was done on about 500,000 people, who gave details about their habitual coffee consumption, smoking and drinking habits, and their medical history too. They also revealed that 14,200 of the people involved died during the 10-year study.
Every level and type of coffee consumption was found to have some qualities of longevity or a longer life as well. The risks declined depending upon how much the coffee was consumed by the person, its caffeine content and based on whether the coffee was instant or ground. They found that the ones who consumed coffee regularly had about 8% lower risk of premature death that the ones who didn’t. The rate was highest at 16% for people who drink six to seven daily cups.
The speed of metabolism regarding caffeine did not appear to affect longevity, even though past studies have stated that risks of high blood pressure and heart attack are high with people who metabolize caffeine slowly. Loftfield criticized this study as she claims the researcher only involved coffee consumption after a disease occurrence. Since they used the Biobank study, they could investigate genetic data like caffeine metabolism that resulted in a more detailed analysis.
They concluded that caffeine really isn’t a life-lengthening mechanism at work in Java, Loftfield claims. Since the study involved analysis of an existing dataset, it was fairly observational, but nevertheless still proved that coffee does keep death at bay or at least results in a longer life.
“Our current understanding of coffee and health is primarily based on findings from observational studies,” Loftfield explains, “To better understand the potential biological mechanisms underlying the observed associations of coffee with various health outcomes, additional studies are needed.”
Their study has clearly disproved the past notion that coffee or rather caffeine leads to cancer, which even the World Health Organization backed by stating that there is inadequate evidence to label coffee as a carcinogen.
“Our study provides further evidence that coffee drinking can be part of a healthy diet and offers reassurance to coffee drinkers,” Loftfield concluded.