Science & Technology

Drinking coffee can lower your risk of death

By T.K. Randall
November 18, 2015 ·  73 comments

Coffee can provide a number of unexpected health benefits. Image Credit: FreeImages.com / Mathew Bowdon For those who ingest multiple cups on a daily basis there's good news - a new study has shown that moderate amounts of coffee can have a beneficial effect on your brain and liver as well as offering a reduction in the risk of developing several types of cancer.

"Bioactive compounds in coffee reduce insulin resistance and systematic inflammation," said doctoral student Ming Ding. "That could explain some of our findings. However, more studies are needed to investigate the biological mechanisms producing these effects."

The findings were based on an analysis of data from 200,000 health professionals who filled in questionnaires about their food and coffee intake every four years for three decades.The results suggested that those who drank up to 3 cups a day had a 9% reduction in their risk of premature death while those who drank between 3 and 5 cups has a 15% lower risk.

Drinking too much coffee however - more than 5 cups a day - resulted in an increased risk.

"The coffee bean itself is loaded with many different nutrients and phytochemicals," said Dr. Walter Willett. "And my guess is that they're working together to have some of these benefits."

"We [see] similar benefits from caffeinated and decaffeinated coffee. That's important, because it suggests that caffeine is not responsible for [the benefit]."

Source: UPI.com | Comments (73)

Tags: Coffee