Ah, science. You’ve got to love it. Every so often, amongst the doom and gloom of usual headlines referring to a rapidly-declining planet and the emergence of new viruses, strains of flu, and epidemics, there comes a study that restores hope in humanity, sparks happiness in all those who come across it, and faith that we can prevail against the toughest odds. The study in question? Turns out drinking two to three cups of coffee a day could help reduce your risk of death and heart disease, regardless of whether it’s caffeinated or not. Let’s raise our cup of Joe to that!
Growing up, sneaking a sip out of our parent’s coffee mug at the breakfast table was an act of war. Not least from their point, but from the internal agony of tastebuds in revolt from the vile bitter broth. Fast forward a number of years and coffee is our life blood. For many of us, it’s what we need to get out of bed in the morning and only after our first cup of coffee has been consumed do we regain the ability to talk in articulate sentences and be able to socialise in a positive manner.
But despite our growing love affair with coffee, there are those who posit that maybe it isn’t that good for us and we should all be switching to a soothing tea of the chamomile variety. Well, thankfully researchers are here to let you know that two to three cups of coffee a day could protect you from cardiovascular disease and even early death.
In a study of nearly 450,000 adults in the UK that had no sign of arrhythmia or heart disease at the beginning of the research date, researchers observed participants for 12.5 years on average. Results were adjusted for certain mitigating factors like age, ethnicity, obesity, blood pressure and harmful lifestyle factors like intake of cigarettes, as well as consumption of tea and alcohol.
According to researchers, there was a ‘significant reduction’ in the risk for heart disease, cognitive failure and stroke. The caveat though, is that the study was only ‘observational’, so unfortunately there can’t be made a strong correlation between coffee and optimal heart health, but there does appear to be a ‘promising link.’
The study revealed that drinking two to three cups of coffee saw participants reduce likelihood of early death, compared to those who didn’t drink coffee. Interestingly, the results were dependent on the type of coffee consumed, with ground coffee lowering risk of death by as much as 27 per cent. Decaffeinated was behind this at 14 per cent while it was only 11 per cent more for instant caffeinated coffee.
When it comes to heart disease and stroke, the risk was lowered 20 per cent by ground coffee, six per cent for decaf, and nine per cent for instant. Decaf was also found to have no effect on arrhythmia, while ground and instant coffee were found to help.
Though the results are certainly something to celebrate for those who love a cup of two of coffee, the fact that decaf coffee was also seen to have an effect led researchers to believe that it’s actually not caffeine that reduces the risk of death. “Caffeine is the most well-known constituent in coffee, but the beverage contains more than 100 biologically active components,” said study author Peter Kistler, head of clinical electrophysiology research at the Baker Heart and Diabetes Institute and head of electrophysiology at Alfred Hospital in Melbourne.
“The results suggest that mild to moderate intake of ground, instant and decaffeinated coffee should be considered part of a healthy lifestyle.”
