Study shows coffee may boost longevity

NEW research shows coffee may lengthen your life, even for those who down at least eight cups daily.

In a study of nearly half a million British adults, coffee drinkers were about 10% to 15% less likely to die than abstainers during a decade of followup. The effect was seen with instant, ground and decaffeinated, results that echoed US research.

The study was published last

Monday in the journal JAMA

Internal Medicine.

It is not clear exactly how drinking coffee might affect longevity.

Lead author Erikka Loftfield, a researcher at the US National Cancer Institute, said coffee contained more than 1000 chemical compounds, including antioxidants, which help protect cells from damage.

Other studies have suggested substances in coffee may reduce inflammation and improve how the body uses insulin, which can reduce the chance of developing diabetes.

Of the 9 million people invited to take part, 498,134 women and men aged 40 to 69 agreed. The low participation rate meant those involved might have been healthier than the general UK population, the researchers said.

Participants filled out questionnaires about daily coffee consumption, exercise and other habits and received physical exams, including blood tests. Most were coffee drinkers; 154,000 drank two to three cups daily and 10,000 drank at least eight cups daily.

During the next decade, 14,225 participants died, mostly of cancer or heart disease.

Coffee drinkers in the study did not have higher risks than nondrinkers of dying from heart disease and other blood pressure-related causes.

As in previous studies, they were more likely than abstainers to drink alcohol and smoke, but the researchers took those factors into account, and coffee drinking seemed to cancel them out.