Drinking coffee may extend your life

Previous studies say it can help beat prostate cancer, and reduce therisk of heart disease – now US researchers reveal caffeine may help you live longer too.

The study, which analysed the coffee-drinking habits of 400,000 men and women aged from 50 – 71 over a 14 year period, found that those who frequently drink coffee were less likely to die from a number of health problems, compared with those who consumed little to no caffeine.

These conditions included diabetes, respiratory disease, stroke, infections and even injuries – but not cancer. Men and women coffee drinkers, who consumed between two and six cups per day – be it regular or decaffeinated coffee – lowered their risk of dying from these diseases by 10 and 15 per cent, respectively.

Researchers at the National Institue of Health admit it’s still unclear whether drinking coffee is the direct cause of a lowered risk of death, but there is a link.

“It’s a modest effect,” Neal D. Freedman, the study’s lead author and an investigator for the National Cancer Institute said. “But the biggest concern for a long time has been that drinking coffee is a risky thing to do. Our results, and some of those of more recent studies, provide reassurance for coffee drinkers that this isn’t the case,” Dr. Freeman said.

To learn more, Dr Freeman said further studies will begin to examine the many compounds in coffee and how they might be related to improved health.

“It’s estimated there are 1,000 or more compounds in coffee,” Dr Freeman said. “All of these could affect health in different ways. It might be due to one of the many compounds in coffee, or a number of them working together.”

Source: bodyandSoul