Four Cups of Coffee a Day Could Decrease Mortality

A recently released study from Spain involving 19,986 coffee drinkers is music to the ears of countless millions of people on earth that drink coffee. The research followed participants for 14 years, and found that an average of four cups a day could reduce the likelihood of early death by as much as 60+%. This was just one of several different studies performed around the world involving various ethnic and racial groups.

Research from a study by Marc J. Gunter, PhD in France looked at nearly a half a million people across 10 countries in Europe. He and his colleagues at the International Agency for Research on Cancer, found a lower rate of mortality especially digestive and cardio-vascular disorders. One glitch seems to be that ovarian cancer might be slightly elevated with a larger intake of coffee, but more research is needed. This finding however was not mentioned in other research studies.

Older studies have found that coffee could enhance liver function and the immune system as well decreasing inflammation. Apparently offsetting the “too much” caffeine rhetoric of the past. A 22-30% reduction of early death was associated with 2 cups and 64% drop with 4 cups. Experts from the University of Southampton and the University of Edinburgh looked at results from a total of 26 studies and over 2.25 million people and confirmed that increased intake could reduce liver cancer.

All researchers feel that anti-oxidants play a large role in the protective mechanism as does diterpenes and even caffeine; decaffeinated drinks yielded nearly the same results. Lead author of the study, Dr Adela Navarro Hospital de Navarra looked at death rates of 337 people during one study that drank coffee regularly who passed away. Coffee drinkers had the lowest rate of death, especially the older ones. She said that the polyphenol anti-oxidants were mostly responsible; they also exhibit strong anti-inflammatory properties.

Associate Medical Director at the British Heart Foundation, Professor Metin Avkiran noted that despite this study, coffee drinkers should still practice all methods related to reducing heart disease by employing standard healthy lifestyle methods such as diet, exercise and not smoking.

In another study, led by Song-Yi Park, PhD, from the University of Hawaii, Honolulu, enrolled 185,855 African Americans, Native Hawaiians, Japanese Americans, and Latinos, to look at coffee and mortality in multiple ethnicities. Similar to the above studies, the findings were consistent, showing a decreased risk for almost all causes of death with a high intake of coffee, including from heart disease, cancer, respiratory disease, stroke, diabetes, liver, and kidney disease.

While some pundits caution that going so far as to recommend coffee to actually reduce mortality would be premature, they do admit that incorporating it into a healthier lifestyle is warranted.