Over the years coffee has been criticized and often linked with health problems. According to Harvard’s School of Public HealthEarly studies showed that coffee consumption was linked to serious conditions such as asthma and heart disease. It turned out that many of the participants in these early studies also smoked cigarettes. This made it seem like there was an unfair link between coffee and health.
Recent research has shown strong evidence linking coffee consumption with overall better health. We’ve already covered its potential to help reduce the risk of dementia and stroke. Now we’re taking a look at another study that suggests coffee’s positive impact on heart health and life longevity.
An analysis Publication Date: September 27, 2022, in the European Journal of Preventive CardiologyWe examined the impact of habitual coffee consumption on mortality, arrhythmias, and cardiovascular disease.
For more than 10 years, the researchers followed 449,563 participants ranging in age from 40 to 69 (median 55 years; 55.3% females). For previous studies, false correlations were excluded by taking into account the participants’ BMIs, smoking habits, alcohol consumption, and medical history.
Participants were then asked to answer a questionnaire about how much coffee they drink each day, and whether the coffee was instant, ground, or decaffeinated. Following this, participants were divided into six intake categories: none to one, less than three, four to five and more than five cups.
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The good news for coffee lovers is what researchers discovered. Here’s the basic breakdown:
- Drinking one to five cups either instant or ground coffee daily resulted in a significant decrease in arrhythmia. The highest risks were for those who drank between four and five cups each. Instant coffee drinkers had to consume two to three cups per day. Decaffeinated coffee users did not have a reduced risk of developing arrhythmia.
- There was a lower risk of developing cardiovascular disease when you drink two to three cups of instant or ground coffee, compared to those who don’t.
- Consuming 2 to 3 cups of decaffeinated, instant or ground coffee reduced all causes of mortality.
With the exception of arrhythmia or decaf, all types of coffee were associated overall with improved health. This is good news for people with caffeine sensitivities. The most beneficial for most correlations was drinking 2 to 3 cups of coffee per day.
However, the study authors acknowledge that there were limitations to their research. For example, coffee consumption was reported by participants and relied on the assumption that coffee intake would be consistent. The possibility that the participants consumed different types of coffee throughout the study was also mentioned by the authors. The majority of the population was white so these findings might not apply to other ethnicities.
These limitations are still being addressed, but the initial results look promising for all coffee lovers.