REAL LIFE NEWS: SEE, I TOLD YOU COFFEE WAS GOOD FOR YOU!
by Hazed
If you’ve been trying to cut down on coffee for fear it might be bad for you, maybe you should think again. New research suggests that people who drink coffee have a lower risk of dying from many causes than those who don’t.
The reduced death rate is seen for heart disease, stroke, diabetes, respiratory disease, cancer and liver disease, and it shows up for those who drink decaff as well as full strength coffee – so it’s not the caffeine that’s making the difference. The effect is higher among those who drink more cups of coffee a day.
This new finding comes from two studies. The first looked at the coffee consumption of over 185,000 white and non-white participants who were recruited in the early 1990s and then followed up for an average of over 16 years. The results from this study were that drinking one cup of coffee a day was linked to a 12% reduction in the risk of death from any age and from any cause. Those who drank two or three cups a day had an 18% lower risk. The reduced risks were the same for all ethnicities.
The second study was the largest of its kind and involved over 450,000 people who were recruited between 1992 and 2000 from ten European countries. Again, they were followed for just over 16 years on average. After factors such as age, education, smoking status and physical activity were taken into account, this study again found there was an 18% lower risk of death for men. The effect was not so marked in women: they only showed a reduction of 8%.
These results are intriguing, but scientists are not sure whether it’s due to the coffee itself, or just that coffee-drinkers may have healthier behaviours. (Remember, correlation is not causation!) Both studies also relied on the participants self-reporting their coffee consumption levels.
It is not clear which of the many biologically active components in coffee might be responsible for the health benefits. Authors of both studies agree that more work is needed.
