Attention coffee lovers: your favourite hot beverage may hold more power than just keeping you awake when bouts of sleepiness hit.
According to a new study published in the journal Annals of Internal Medicine, drinking either sweetened or unsweetened coffee is associated with a lower death risk when compared with not drinking.
Researchers surveyed 171,616 participants across the United Kingdom up to five times over the course of a year about their lifestyle. The scientists then looked up death certificates to see who passed away after an average of seven years later.
With coffee-drinking habits being part of the main focus, the participants’ ages ranged from 37 to 73 and reported they had no cardiovascular disease or cancer at the time of survey.
Results showed that people who drank a moderate amount of coffee (ranging from 1.5 to 3.5 cups a day) and sweetened their drink had a 30% lower death risk compared with non-coffee drinkers.
Unsweetened coffee drinkers had between 16% and 29% lower death risk compared with non-coffee drinkers. The findings were adjusted to account for other things such as amount of physical activity, smoking level, dietary level and even education status.
There is some concern about the sugar intake however. The average coffee drinker who sweetens their coffee was found to put in an average of 1 teaspoon of sugar. The ‘immortality’ benefits of coffee aren’t negated by 1 teaspoon, but the researchers warned against high calorie specialties. So no more caramel macchiatos if you want to live forever!
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