A ten-year study in the United States found that coffee drinkers are less likely to die from a range of diseases than those who never drink the drink.
In particular, people who cannot imagine their day without a couple of cups of coffee are less likely to die from heart disease or diabetes. Curiously, this also applies to those who drink decaffeinated coffee, so the secret is probably not in it, but, for example, in phenolic acids or potassium, also contained in the drink.
Scientists used information obtained in an earlier study on more than 90 thousand adults, whose health was monitored by specialists from 1998 to 2009. Before the study began, participants reported how much coffee they drink on average, and also answered a number of other questions regarding their diet, habits and health.
By 2009, about 8,700 people in the study had died. Taking into account other factors, such as smoking, the scientists concluded that coffee drinkers were less likely to die during the study than those who did not drink it, medpagetoday.com reports.
According to scientists who published their research in the American Journal of Epidemiology, the "optimal" amount of coffee to avoid premature death was quite impressive - 4-5 cups a day. People who drank coffee regularly were less likely to die from heart disease, diabetes, pneumonia and flu. It was also found that they are generally less prone to suicide.
2-3 cups of coffee a day on average reduced the likelihood of death of study participants during the observation period by 18%. At the same time, scientists note that coffee does not "extend life" in the full sense of the word, but only affects a number of specific factors that can lead to premature death.
Studies that turn our idea of what is useful and harmful to humans upside down have appeared quite often lately. For example, quite recently, Finnish scientists stated that physical education does not prolong, and in some cases even shortens life expectancy.
By the way, earlier American experts came to the conclusion that coffee changes the structure of neural connections in the brain.
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Dmitry Erusalimsky