Two cups of coffee a day (even decaf) linked to a longer life

By Pol Allingham via SWNS

Drinking two cups of coffee a day, even decaf, is linked to a longer life and reduced risk of heart disease.

Whether ground, instant or decaffeinated, those who drink two or three cups a day have a longer lifespan and lower cardiovascular disease compared to those who don’t drink any.

In fact, instantly gave the highest protection, followed by decaffeinated and then ground.

Researchers at the European Society of Cardiology studied half a million people over 12.5 years and concluded that drinking should be part of a healthy lifestyle.

Every single type of coffee in the study was linked with a lower chance of dying.

Those drinking two or three cups of decaffeinated coffee a day were 14 percent less likely to die.

Two or three instants a day carried a 27 percent reduced chance of death, and ground coffee drinkers consuming the same amount had an 11 percent reduction.

Similar trends were revealed in all of the tested health areas: Coronary heart disease, congestive heart failure, ischaemic stroke, and incident arrhythmias were all helped by drinking coffee.

Study author Professor Peter Kistler of the Baker Heart and Diabetes Research Institute, Melbourne, Australia said: “In this large, observational study, ground, instant and decaffeinated coffee were associated with equivalent reductions in the incidence of cardiovascular disease and death from cardiovascular disease or any cause.

“The results suggest that mild to moderate intake of ground, instant and decaffeinated coffee should be considered part of a healthy lifestyle.”

Using data from the large-scale biomedical database UK Biobank the team studied the links between drinking different types of coffee and incident arrhythmias, cardiovascular disease and death.

Coronary heart disease, congestive heart failure, and ischaemic stroke were all examples of cardiovascular disease.

The 449,563 participants took a questionnaire asking how many cups they drank each day and whether instant, ground or decaf coffee was their go-to.

They were then grouped into six daily intake categories: no cups a day, less than one, one, two to three, four to five, and more than five cups each day.

Nearly half drank instant, 198,062 or 44.1 percent of the cohort.

Ground coffee drinkers made up 18.4 percent or 82,575 of the group and 15.2 percent or 68,416 drank decaf.

They were compared with 100,510 people who never drank coffee - 22.4 percent of the group.

After an average of 12.5 years, medical records or death records were found to check the outcome.

In total 27,809 participants died during the follow-up, 6.2 percent of the group.

However, if they drank two or three cups of decaffeinated coffee a day they were 14 percent less likely to die.

The same amount of instant cups was associated with a 27 percent lower chance of death, and ground coffee drinkers had an 11 percent reduction.

Like death, cardiovascular disease was significantly reduced by drinking coffee.

It was diagnosed in 43,173 of the group, or 9.6 percent.

But two or three cups of decaf were linked with being six percent less likely to suffer from the disease, 20 percent for ground coffee, and nine percent for an instant.

Arrhythmia affected 30,100 of the cohort or 6.7 percent, and once again drinking coffee was associated with fewer symptoms including atrial fibrillation, otherwise known as an irregular heartbeat.

People enjoying four or five cups a day of ground coffee had a 17 percent lower risk of arrhythmia than those who never drank coffee.

Similarly, those drinking two or three cups of instant coffee a day were 12 percent less likely to suffer the same disease.

Writing in the European Journal of Preventive Cardiology Professor Kistler said it was down to the abundance of biologically active components in the drink.

He said: “Caffeine is the most well-known constituent in coffee, but the beverage contains more than 100 biologically active components.

“It is likely that the non-caffeinated compounds were responsible for the positive relationships observed between coffee drinking, cardiovascular disease and survival.

“Our findings indicate that drinking modest amounts of coffee of all types should not be discouraged but can be enjoyed as a heart-healthy behavior.”