Drinking coffee may add 9 minutes per day to your life
Two new international studies have found coffee could prolong life.
The studies found that drinking a single cup a day reduces the risk of dying early from any cause, and significantly reduces the chance of death from digestive problems.
One study of more than half a million people across 10 European countries found men who consumed at least three cups a day were 18 per cent less likely to die from any cause than non-coffee drinkers.
Women, drinking the same amount, only experienced an eight per cent reduction in mortality.
Those who consumed just one 350ml cup each day reduced their risk of dying early by 12 per cent over 16 years.
Professor Sir David Spiegelhalter, Winton Professor for the Public Understanding of Risk at the University of Cambridge, calculated that these results meant a cup of coffee a day extended the average life of a man by three months and a woman by a month.
“Pro-rata, that’s as if that cup of coffee puts, on average, around nine minutes on a man’s life, and around three minutes on a woman’s. So perhaps we should relax and enjoy it,” he told the Telegraph, UK.
From a study of 185,855 people with different ethnic backgrounds, US scientists arrived at the same results. Their research found irrespective of ethnicity, people who dank two to three cups of coffee had an 18 per cent reduced risk of death. They found those who drank one cup of coffee a day were 12 per cent less likely to die than those who consumed no coffee.
Both studies, which were published in the journal Annals of Internal Medicine, showed no advantage from drinking caffeinated or decaffeinated coffee. Experts believe the caffeine is not responsible for the life-prolonging effect but rather the antioxidant plant compounds.
Previous research has shown that consuming coffee can reduce the risk of heart attack, disease, diabetes, liver disease and some cancers.
Leader of the European study, Dr Marc Gunter, from the International Agency for Research on Cancer, said, “We found that higher coffee consumption was associated with a lower risk of death from any cause, and specifically for circulatory diseases and digestive diseases.”
“Importantly, these results were similar across all of the 10 European countries, with variable coffee drinking habits and customs. Our study also offers important insights into the possible mechanisms for the beneficial health effects of coffee.”
The European study examined data from 521,330 participants across 10 European countries including the UK, France, Denmark and Italy.
Lead author Dr Veronica Setiawan from the University of Southern California said, “We cannot say drinking coffee will prolong your life, but we see an association. If you like to drink coffee, drink up! If you’re not a coffee drinker, then you need to consider if you should start.”
“Coffee contains a lot of antioxidants and phenolic compounds that play an important role in cancer prevention.”