Sip Your Way to a Longer Life: How Your Coffee Habit May Be the Key to Longevity

Legend has it that coffee was discovered by a goat herder on the Ethiopian plateau before being used by monks to help them stay awake during evening prayers. Coffee cultivation and trade later took hold in the Arabian Peninsula, including Persia, Egypt, Syria, and Turkey. Nowadays, coffee shops like Starbucks and others keep us supplied with a drink that has increasingly been associated with a variety of health benefits and increased longevity.

In fact, there have been several studies showcasing coffee’s beneficial effects on health, including its ability to ward off liver disease, mental decline, diabetes, colon cancer, and prostate cancer. Two new large observational studies published in the Annals of Internal Medicine provide further evidence of the benefits of coffee consumption.

Coffee consumption and longer life

One of these studies examined the association of coffee consumption with the risk for total and cause-specific death among a multi-ethnic cohort (185,855 African Americans, Native Hawaiians, Japanese Americans, Latinos, and Caucasians between the ages of 45 and 75). The study (which took place between 1993 and 2012) found that consuming at least one cup and up to more than four cups of coffee per day was associated with lower mortality or longer life. Interestingly, the researchers discovered this life-extending trend to be the same whether the coffee consumed had caffeine or not.

According to the researchers, “higher consumption of coffee was associated with a lower risk for death in African Americans, Japanese Americans, Latinos, and whites.” However, the association of mortality and coffee consumption was not significant among Native Hawaiians.

Coffee and mortality in 10 European countries

Another multinational cohort study examined coffee consumption and mortality in 10 European countries. In this study, 521,330 participants enrolled in EPIC (European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition). During the 16-year follow-up, 41,693 participants died. When compared with non-coffee drinkers, those participants who drank the most coffee daily had statistically significantly lower all-cause mortality.

The evidence suggested that coffee consumption lowered mortality rates caused by digestive disease in both men and women. For women specifically, coffee consumption reduced rates of mortality linked to circulatory disease, cerebrovascular disease, and ovarian cancer.

The takeaway from the study was, “Coffee drinking was associated with a reduced risk for death from various causes. This relationship did not vary by country.”

Italian brew reduces prostate cancer risk

Moreover, a recent study by the Department of Epidemiology and Prevention – IRCCS (Istituto Dermopatico dell’Immacolata) Neuromed, Italy, and the Italian National Institute of Health and the IRCCS of Rome, focused on the risk-reduction benefits of coffee on prostate cancer. The International Journal of Cancer published the results.

The researchers evaluated the effects of Italian-style coffee consumption on prostate cancer risk in a population cohort of nearly 7,000 men aged 50+. They specifically wanted to see the effects of caffeine on two human prostate cancer cell lines (PC-3 and DU145) and tested these with increasing concentrations of caffeine, evaluating their proliferative/metastatic features in the process.

The result: Subjects who consumed Italian-style caffeinated coffee (more than three cups daily) had a 53% lower prostate cancer risk compared to participants at the lowest consumption levels of zero to two cups daily. This news is very promising for men and their families.

Conclusion

Coffee is increasingly being recognized as a healthy beverage and a liquid prescription for disease prevention and life extension. There is growing evidence that coffee consumption can reduce the risk of many diseases, so it may not be necessary to “give up coffee for tea” as previously suggested.

Despite the apparent benefits of coffee consumption, researchers have been unable to explain the exact mechanisms behind its amazing benefits. For now, those looking for an explanation may need to wait a while longer. Otherwise, drink up (most experts agree that fewer than 5 cups a day are preferable), caffeinated or not, because the evidence is compelling that a coffee habit has the potential to prevent disease, reduce risk and extend life.