Around the world, coffee is the morning drink of choice for millions of Earth’s inhabitants . Not only is it delicious , but it provides that caffeine boost that helps many of us kickstart the day and get into gear, myself included.
Wouldn’t it be nice to know that beyond getting us through the morning hours, coffee had other benefits? Incredible news then, as that may just be true thanks to a recent study.
After years of research, scientists have reached a verdict regarding coffee.
Published this past Monday in the Annals of Internal Medicine , a U.K.-based study monitored 120,000 people who regularly drank either unsweetened or sugar-sweetened coffee over seven years.
Their findings? Turns out coffee might have some stellar benefits.
In fact, the results suggest that people who drank 1.5 to 3.5 cups a day actually had a lower risk of mortality than people who don’t drink coffee at all. This remained true even if every cup had a teaspoon of sugar in it.
The difference was pretty staggering.
People who drank completely unsweetened coffee were 16-21 percent less likely to die during the observation period than those who weren’t coffee drinkers.
That being said, causality wasn’t something that was recorded, so there’s no saying for sure that coffee played a pivotal role here.
Researchers remain on the fence about that part.
As Dr. Christina Wee, an associate professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School, wrote in an accompanying editorial about the study, “Biologically, it is plausible that coffee could actually confer some direct health benefits. […] We can’t say for sure that it’s the coffee drinking per se that leads to the lower mortality risk.”
Adding (limited) sugar doesn’t seem to change this either.
In fact, it seemed to improve the numbers. People who drank coffee sweetened with a tablespoon of sugar were 29-31 percent less likely to die than non-coffee drinkers.
This only applied to people who used real, natural sugar. There were no conclusive results for those who used artificial sweeteners, and the study didn’t look at people who add milk or cream.
However, sugar must still be enjoyed in moderation.
Dr. Wee also said, “My biggest caution is to not equate this to ‘Oh, I can drink any kind of coffee with loads of calories,’ because there are other studies that clearly show that adding sugar and high levels of empty calories is not good for you.”
“What this study is really saying is that adding a little bit of sugar doesn’t take away all the potential health benefits that coffee might have.”
This isn’t the first study to make these connections.
A 2019 study found much of the same results, and another analysis said that three to four cups of coffee a day could lower the risk of dying from heart disease. That same analysis also found links between drinking coffee and a decreased risk of Parkinson’s disease, chronic kidney disease, Type 2 diabetes, and certain cancers.
However, there’s no information about why coffee is linked to those things.
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That being said, coffee has also been found to have its downsides.
A 2015 review found an increased wish of blood clots for people who drank two to four cups a day. In 2021, researchers found connections between ‘boiled’ coffee and increased cholesterol compared to filtered coffee. Not to mention that caffeine is known to potentially raise one’s blood pressure.
So, what’s the verdict? Is coffee healthy or not?
While not an answer many people like, it really depends. Dr. Wee made sure to note that many lifestyle factors can come into play regarding whether or not coffee is beneficial for any one person.
However, she concluded with this, “I am more confident that we can say that coffee drinking is likely not harmful, maybe a little bit beneficial. […] If you don’t enjoy coffee, I wouldn’t force yourself to like it.”
h/t: NBC News
