Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
Drink three coffees a day for longer life
DRINKING three cups of coffee a day could be the secret to a long life, a major Europe-wide study has found.
Higher levels of consumption particularly cut the risk of dying from circulatory and digestive conditions, experts discovered.
Scientists at Imperial College London and researchers from the International Agency for Research on Cancer looked at data from more than 500,000 adults across 10 European countries, including the UK.
The study found men who downed at least three cups of coffee a day were 18% less likely to die from any cause than noncoffee drinkers. Women drinking the same amount experienced an 8% reduction in mortality over a 16-year period.
Dr Marc Gunter, from the IARC, said: “We found drinking more coffee was associated with a more favourable liver function profile and immune response. This... gives us greater confidence that coffee may have beneficial health effects.”
Professor Elio Riboli, of Impe- rial College, added: “These findings add to a growing body of evidence which indicates drinking coffee not only is safe, but it may actually have a protective health effect.” Experts believe the antioxidant plant compounds in coffee are responsible for the effect.
Sir David Spiegelhalter, of Cambridge University, estimated an extra cup of coffee a day would extend the life of a man by “about three months”.