Drinking eight cups of coffee a day could help live longer: study

Drinking coffee could boost people’s chances of a longer life, a research shows, even for those who consume as many as eight cups a day.

In a study of around half-a-million British adults, coffee drinkers were found to have a slightly lower risk of death over a 10-year follow-up period than non-coffee drinkers.

The apparent longevity boost comes as yet another piece of good news for coffee lovers, with health benefits recorded in drinkers of instant, ground, and decaffeinated coffee. The study is also the first of its kind to suggest health benefits in people with so-called genetic glitches affecting how their bodies react to caffeine.

Health experts warned people should not start drinking coffee, or increasing their intake, for medical reasons. They also warned too much coffee for women during pregnancy could be harmful.

Health benefits

Researchers at the National Cancer Institute (NCI) used data from people taking part in a genetic study called the U.K. Biobank. The participants of that study volunteered to give blood and answer detailed health and lifestyle questions.

For the latest study, published Monday in the Journal of the American Medical Association’s JAMA Internal Medicine, NCI researchers analyzed information provided by approximately 500,000 people, who answered questions about coffee consumption, smoking and drinking habits, medical history and more.

Around 14,200 of those same people died in the 10-year follow-up period. However, the researchers found people were more likely to live longer with nearly every level and type of coffee consumption.

Overall, coffee drinkers were found to be about 10 percent to 15 percent less likely to die than non-coffee drinkers during a decade of follow-up checks. The differences recorded regarding the amount of coffee consumed and genetic variations were minimal.

Other studies have claimed substances in coffee might reduce inflammation and improve how the body uses insulin, which could decrease the likelihood of developing diabetes.

Late last year, researchers at the University of Southampton in the U.K. found people who drink three or four cups of coffee every day could significantly reduce their chances of early death.

Source: CNBC