How much coffee you need to age healthily
Drinking four cups of coffee a day boosts a person's chances of avoiding sickness as they age, a Harvard study has found.
The biggest coffee drinkers, who consume four strong 150mg Americanos a day, had a 13 per cent higher chance of healthy ageing than people who drank almost no coffee at all, the scientists said.
Almost 50,000 women were followed by Harvard academics for 30 years in a comprehensive investigation into the health benefits of caffeine consumption on ageing.
The research found that caffeine itself was linked to marginal health improvements. However, 80 per cent of all caffeine ingested came from coffee and when focusing on coffee specifically, the effect was found to be stronger.
There was no benefit for tea or decaffeinated coffee, however.
'While past studies have linked coffee to individual health outcomes, our study is the first to assess coffee's impact across multiple domains of ageing over three decades,' said Dr Sara Mahdavi, study author from Harvard T H Chan School of Public Health.
'The findings suggest that caffeinated coffee – not tea or decaf – may uniquely support ageing trajectories that preserve both mental and physical function.'
Fewer than 4,000 of the women in the study met the criteria for 'healthy ageing', marked as at least 70 years of age and free of any major chronic health conditions, with no memory or cognition problems and no mental health concerns.
Caffeinated soda drinks were found to have a negative impact on health and one glass a day lowered the odds of healthy ageing by almost a fifth.
'These results, while preliminary, suggest that small, consistent habits can shape long-term health,' said Dr Mahdavi.
'Moderate coffee intake may offer some protective benefits when combined with other healthy behaviours such as regular exercise, a healthy diet and avoiding smoking.
'While this study adds to prior evidence suggesting coffee intake may be linked with healthy ageing, the benefits from coffee are relatively modest compared to the impact of overall healthy lifestyle habits and warrant further investigation.'
She told The Telegraph the women who aged well 'were also eating well, exercising and avoiding smoking', adding: 'Coffee may support healthy ageing when it's part of an overall healthy lifestyle but it's not the main driver.'
Less likely to die of heart disease
The study was presented at the annual conference of the American Society for Nutrition in Orlando and supports a 2022 study which found that moderate coffee drinkers of three cups a day were 12 per cent less likely to die over an 11-year period.
They were also 17 and 21 per cent less likely to die of heart disease or stroke, respectively, according to researchers at Semmelweis University in Budapest and Queen Mary University in London.
Previous research from scientists at Soochow University in China also found three cups of coffee a day halves the risk of developing numerous heart conditions.
The research revealed that people who drank three cups a day were 48 per cent less likely to develop multiple cardio-metabolic diseases such as Type 2 diabetes, coronary heart disease and stroke.
The study also found that drinking two cups of tea daily reduced the likelihood of developing these conditions by a third, compared with drinking none.
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