Coffee Drinking Linked to Reduced Mortality

That cup of coffee that helps get you going in the morning may also help you live longer. New research published in The Journal of Nutrition found that coffee consumption was associated with a reduced mortality risk in a study involving 2,461 participants from a multi-ethnic urban population. These findings are consistent with those of a previous study involving 229,119 men and 173,141 women published last year in The New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM).

In the more recent of the two studies involving 2,461 subjects, after an average follow-up of 11 years during which there were 863 deaths, coffee consumption was inversely associated with all-cause mortality in a dose-dependent manner, with each additional cup associated with a 7% reduction in mortality risk.

The larger NEJM study also found a dose-dependent inverse association between coffee consumption and all-cause mortality, but the risk reduction appeared to plateau at around five cups of coffee per day. For men, compared to those who drank no coffee, there was a 6% reduction in mortality for those drinking one cup per day; 10% for two to three cups per day; 12% for four to five cups per day and 10% for those drinking six or more cups per day. For women there was a mortality risk reduction of 5% for one cup per day; 13% for two to three per day; 16% for four to five cups per day and 15% for six or more cups per day. In terms of cause-specific mortality, the NEJM study found an inverse association between coffee consumption and deaths due to heart disease, respiratory disease, stroke, diabetes, infections, and accidents and injuries.

Gardener H, Rundek T, et al. Coffee and tea consumption are inversely associated with mortality in a multiethnic urban population. J Nutr. 2013 Aug; 143 (8): 1299-308. doi: 10.3945/jn.112.173807

Freedman ND, Park Y, et al. Association of coffee drinking with total and cause-specific mortality. N Engl J Med. 2012 May 17; 366 (20): 1891-904. doi: 10.1056/NEJMoa1112010