You can drink coffee for the energy boost that helps you restart your day. But there is another potential advantage that you may not see immediately: according to a new analysis of the study, coffee is associated with healthy aging.
Investigators examined around three decades of data on more than 47,000 women participating in the nursing health study, which provided detailed food information every few years. At the end of the study period, around 3,700 women had reached their 1970s and met the definition of healthy aging researchers: they were free from many current chronic diseases and had good mental and cognitive health.
These so-called “healthy agers” generally consume about 315 milligrams (MG) of caffeine per day when they were of average age. They obtained more than 80% of their caffeine from fully cavity coffee – roughly a cup and a half of large cafes that many people drink today – and not other sources such as cola or tea.
Among these healthy services, each cup of additional coffee per day was linked to a chance of 2 to 5% higher to be free from disease and disability later in life, up to around 2.5 cups.
The results should be reassuring for coffee drinkers
Although these results are not a prescription to start drinking coffee if you have never acquired a taste for this, they should reassure if you are an ordinary coffee drinker, explains the author of the main study Sara Mahdavi, PHD, RD, researcher at the Harvard Th Chan of Public Health in Boston and Appoint teacher at the University of Toronto.
“For those who already drink coffee, especially coffee coffee, these results suggest that it does not need to be considered a bad habit,” explains Dr. Mahdavi. “In fact, the moderate supply of coffee, when consumed without high quantities of sugar or cream, has been associated with a greater probability of aging without major chronic disease, cognitive or physical limitations and mental health problems.”
“The ideal point can be about two cups of coffee coffee per day with nothing or very little added in terms of sugar, sweetening or dairy products,” explains Glen Finney, MD, professor of neurology at the Geisinger College of Health Sciences and director of the Geisinger Memory and Cognition Program of Wilkes-Barre Pennsylvania, which was not involved in the new study.
The study was not a controlled experience designed to prove that specific drinks directly cause healthy aging. The preliminary results have not been published or examined by independent medical experts.
What about decafa and tea?
Decafa or tea were not associated with healthy aging in the study.
Regarding the decafa, it is possible that the decaffeination process eliminates nutrients in coffee that contributes to healthy aging, explains Dr. Finney.
As for tea, “in the past, it has shown in some studies health benefits similar to coffee, so I was surprised not to see any advantages in this study,” he said.
It is possible that there are too few decadeed drinkers and tea in the study to detect clear effects on the health of these drinks, because caféin coffee was much more commonly consumed by the participants, says Mahdavi. It is also possible that some people have given up coffee for medical reasons, deploying unhealthy agents in the ranks of tea or ECCAF drinkers, adds Mahdavi.
Ordinary coffee could also be more beautiful than other drinks in the study, because it has more caffeine – approximately 100 mg per cup – against only about 50 mg in black tea and 30 mg in green tea, explains Joy Dubost, PHD, RD, owner of Njoy Health and Nutrition and Associate Professor at the University of Florida from South in Tampa. But that does not mean that tea is bad for you.
“Tea has been demonstrated in numerous studies published to provide health benefits, in particular to support heart health by reducing blood pressure and supporting healthy blood circulation,” said Dr. Dubost, who was not involved in the new study.
The soda lowers your risk of aging well
The soda seemed to be harmful to healthy aging in the study, each glass of additional daily cola linked to a probability of 20% to 26 percent of more healthy aging.
Unlike tea, Cola lacks clear services, explains Yu Chen, PHD, MPH, population professor of the population at the New York University School of Medicine.
“Sedde can have a negative impact on healthy aging for several reasons, such as its high sugar content,” said Dr. Chen, who was not involved in the new study. “Some studies have also linked artificial sweeteners to regulation of disturbed appetite and a higher risk of stroke, cardiovascular and dementia.”
Many factors contribute to healthy aging
Although the preliminary results of the study are encouraging for coffee drinkers, experts note that coffee is not a magic solution.
“Other factors such as better speed quality, more physical activity and not smoking are essential to age well,” explains Mahdavi.
