Good news for coffee lovers, it has been announced recently that three to five cups of the Monday morning life line could actually prolong your life. Coffee has been found to help reduce the risk of dying from a range of medical issues, from type 2 diabetes to heart disease. The cut off seems to be five cups a day, and can be decaf, for those of us who don’t want to be bouncing off the walls. The study concluded that those who had three to five cups of coffee a day were less likely to die over the decades than their non-coffee drinking counterparts. Excessive coffee drinkers who are also non-smokers were between 8 and 15 percent less likely to die, depending on how much alcohol they consumed. However, it’s not a completely clear correlation as those who drink coffee are also likely to drink, smoke and eat red meat.
Coffee has been linked to reducing the risk of neurological diseases such as Parkinson’s, multiple sclerosis and Alzheimer’s. According to NBC News, advisers to the US Government say that new dietary proposals should mention the benefits of coffee, as the drink is the number one source of antioxidants in the American diet. However, as with many of these discoveries, the recommendations should be taken with a pinch of salt (or sugar) and we shouldn’t take this as a sign to start guzzling five large mochas a day. The leader of the study, Dr. Frank Hu, said that there is a difference between a person who gets little sleep, then uses coffee to function during the day, and a person who sleeps well, exercises, and eats a balanced diet that included some coffee. So, like we, said, a pinch of sugar. The study, carried out by the U.S. National Institutes of Health, was based on more than 200,000 U.S. doctors, nurses and other health professionals who were surveyed repeatedly over almost three decades. During that time, almost 32,000 study participants died. After taking into account the external factors, they still came to the conclusion that coffee had its benefits.
Holly Martin
