Can Coffee Help You Live Longer?

A study with data from more than 200,000 US Americans shows who drink coffee, live longer. And that applies not only to the caffeine-rich but also to the caffeine-free variant.

Study: Coffee extends life

The effect of coffee on the organism has often been studied. The general tenor: the drink is stress-inducing and can lead to exhaustion, insomnia and anxiety. According to the latest findings, however, the hot drink containing caffeine has a health-promoting effect. According to this, coffee can reduce the risk of heart attacks or even strokes. A new study by Harvard University even goes so far as to attribute a life-prolonging effect to the black bean. The research team published the results in the specialist magazine “Circulation”.

The experts analyzed data from around 200,000 medical employees for the study. And this from three data sets over a period of 30 years. Among them: Almost 75,000 women from the “Nurses’ Health Study”, 93,000 women from the “Health Study 2” and 40,500 men from the “Health Professionals Follow-up Study”.

How much coffee is healthy?

But at how many cups a day is coffee actually healthy? This is a question that is answered very specifically in the study. One to five cups a day have a life-prolonging effect. From the sixth cup onwards there would be no additional effect. But it wouldn’t harm the body to drink even more coffee. Overall, the black beans are not only said to reduce the risk of cardiovascular diseases and diabetes, but also to protect against neurological complaints. The best thing about it: the health-promoting aspect also applies to decaffeinated coffee.

In their empirical study, the experts did not discuss how this effect is achieved. They have merely shown that there are statistical correlations between drinking coffee and the health condition. However, the researchers assume that the chemical ingredients could have a positive effect on health.