Drinking coffee, even decaf or instant, may help you live longer
Just brew it: A new study of more than half a million Brits shows your morning elixir may add to your lifespan.
- Co-author of two Gen X pop-culture encyclopedia for Penguin Books. Won "Headline Writer of the Year" award for 2017, 2014 and 2013 from the American Copy Editors Society. Won first place in headline writing from the 2013 Society for Features Journalism.
And you thought British people only drank tea. A recent study that brewed up good news for coffee drinkers involved British volunteers. Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, shown here in cappuccino foam, did not participate.
Drink up, coffee fiends. Yet another study, this time published in the Journal of the American Medical Association's journal JAMA Internal Medicine, is encouraging java lovers to just brew it.
The study from the U.S. National Cancer Institute used information from more than half a million British volunteers who provided blood samples and answered detailed health and lifestyle questions. Almost one-third of those in the study drank two or three cups of coffee daily, and 10,000 hardcore types guzzled at least eight cups daily.
After 10 years of the study, results showed that non-coffee drinkers were more likely to have died than those who didn't drink coffee.
Decaf, instant, fancy pricey coffee from that gourmet shop down the road -- apparently the type of coffee doesn't matter, the study said.
And the "coffee gene" you may have heard of didn't affect things either. Earlier studies suggested that those with variants in the gene called CYP1A2 might metabolize caffeine more slowly and thus end up with a higher risk of high blood pressure or heart attack. But this study showed no extra risk for those with the genetic variant.
We've guzzled down similar findings before: Just last summer, two separate studies delivered similar good news about coffee and mortality.
Next, the study team may delve into how the drink was prepared, to see if the choice of unfiltered coffee and filtered coffee can affect health.
But for now, it's right there in black and white: "This study provides further evidence that coffee drinking can be part of a healthy diet and offers reassurance to coffee drinkers," the journal reports.