Drinking coffee may help you live longer

A government study shows that people who drink coffee often have lower risk of death from disease, when compared to people who drink little or no coffee at all.

LOS ANGELES, CA (Catholic Online) - The study involved more than 400,000 men and women between the ages of 50 to 71, making it the largest study having to do with coffee and health. Although coffee contains caffeine, which may increase heart rate and blood pressure, the drink also contains hundreds of compounds and antioxidants that benefit one's health.

The National Institutes of Health observed health and diet information that was collected from questionnaires filled out by 229,119 men and 173,141 women who were American Association of Retired Persons (AARP) members between 1995-1996. By 2008, 52,000 had died.

When researchers controlled the risks of the relationship between coffee drinkers and smokers, the results showed that the more coffee that is consumed, the less likely he or she would die from health problems that include diabetes, heart disease, respiratory disease, stroke, infections, and even accidents.

During the 14-year study, the risk of dying was found to be roughly 10 percent lower for men and 15 percent lower for women who drank from two to six or more cups of coffee a day.

Neal D. Freedman, the lead author for the study and an investigator for the National Cancer Institute, warned that the results showed only the association between coffee consumption and lower risk for disease, so it isn't known for sure whether drinking more coffee will lead to better health by itself.

"It's a modest effect," he 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. The people who are regularly drinking coffee have a similar risk of death as nondrinkers, and there might be a modest benefit.''

"It's estimated there are 1,000 or more compounds in coffee,'' said Dr. Freedman, referring to learning about different compounds in coffee and how they can improve health. "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."

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