Coffee Drinking Linked to Lower Mortality Risk — Again

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(Newswire.net — November 18, 2015) –A new research, that has recently been carried out, has topped off the data on coffee’s health benefits. With more than 200,000 participants, scientists came to a conclusion that drinking coffee lowers overall risk of mortality. If you drink 3-5 cups a day, that should lower the risk of premature death by 15 percent when compared to those who don’t drink coffee at all, researchers reported Monday in Circulation.

Particularly, the study has shown that coffee lowers the risk of diabetes, heart and liver diseases, and also distinguishes between other health factors like smoking, which may diminish or neutralize coffee’s protective effects.

The authors, led by Frank Hu of Harvard T. H. Chan School of Public Health, concluded that the “results from this and previous studies indicate that coffee consumption can be incorporated into a healthy lifestyle.”

The study was long-lasting and trying. Health records of more than 200,000 people from three clinical trials were analyzed. The people included came mostly from health professions and they were occasionally given food questionnaires within the period of 30 years. Having combined all the data, researchers concluded that drinking up to five cups of coffee a day lowered the risk of overall mortality and that drinking more than five cups a day did not have any connection with mortality risk.

Unfortunately, there are many smokers among people who drink a lot of coffee and there were many unfinished studies that did not have power to examine this group of people thoroughly. So, when smokers were eliminated from the study, it was found that, even with people who have more than five cups a day, the mortality rate is lower than with the non-drinkers.

When the data was examined more closely, it was found that coffee also has some connection with lower risks of neurological disease and suicide, but unfortunately no link to total cancer mortality.

Although dozens of studies resulted in conflicting results, there are some whose findings are rather consistent when it comes to liver cancer and type 2 diabetes. They all showed beneficial associations with coffee consumption, since caffeine blocks liver scarring, reduces insulin resistance and systematic inflammation. Moreover, moderate evidence shows the link between protective caffeine and risk of Parkinson’s disease.

In the 1500s, health experts warned that coffee could lead to illegal sex. In the 19th century, a hot cup “could make you blind,” and in 2001, it increased your risk of urinary cancer. But as of this morning, you can relax and enjoy your cup of coffee guilt-free.