What’s the new wonder treatment? Coffee...

Coffee is “more likely to benefit health than harm”, a new review has found.

People appear to reduce their risk of a range of health problems when they drink three to four cups a day, experts found.

They concluded that drinking coffee seems safe “within usual patterns of consumption”, except in pregnancy and among women at risk of a fracture.

Experts from the University of Southampton and the University of Edinburgh conducted an “umbrella review”, bringing together evidence from more than 200 studies which examined the effects of coffee consumption on health.

Their study found that drinking three or four cups a day compared with drink- ing none has been linked to a lower likelihood of developing or dying from cardiovascular problems, such as heart attacks and stroke.

Meanwhile high consumption levels compared with low consumption levels appeared to confer benefits of an 18% lower risk of incident cancer.

Drinking coffee has also been linked to a lower risk of specific cancers including prostate cancer, endometrial cancer, skin cancer and liver cancer.

Consumption also had “beneficial associations” with other conditions including diabetes, gallstones, gout and some liver conditions. Coffee drinking is also linked to lower risk of Parkinson’s disease, depression, and Alzheimer’s disease, the study found.