UK – Drinking between 2 to 4 cups a day whether with or without sugar, lowers early mortality chances by around 30%, a study published in Annals of Internal Medicine has suggested.
The study, based on data from over 171,616 participants, however, found out that people who drank coffee with artificial sweeteners did not live significantly longer than those who drank no coffee at all.
Previous observational studies have suggested an association between coffee consumption and reduced risk of death but they did not distinguish between coffee consumed with sugar or artificial sweeteners and coffee consumed without them.
To finally create a distinction between the two, the team tracked participants for a median of seven years, choosing individuals with no cardiovascular disease or cancer.
The dietary consumption of sugar-sweetened, artificially sweetened, and unsweetened coffee was self-reported.
A majority (55.4%) of them drank coffee without any sweetener, 14.3% drank coffee with sugar, 6.1% drank coffee with artificial sweetener, and 24.2% did not drink coffee at all.
After accounting for other things that might impact their risk of death, like lifestyle choices, the investigators found that coffee drinkers were significantly less likely to die from any cause, heart disease, or cancer than those who didn’t drink coffee at all.
This benefit was seen across types of coffee regardless of caffeine or type of coffee, including ground, instant, and decaffeinated.
Although the study results suggest that adding sugar did not eliminate the health benefits of coffee, Liu and colleagues still cautioned against sweetened beverages, because of the widely known links between sugar consumption and poor health.
This new research has been backed by an Australian study that found a link between a lower risk of Alzheimer’s disease and moderate coffee consumption. Coffee drinking also has general effects on lowering cognitive decline conducted in 2021.
Also, in another UK study with over 365,000 participants, coffee and tea were found to lower by 32% the risk of stroke and the risk of dementia by 28%.
Professor Tara Spires-Jones of the University of Edinburgh said that with the analyzed data, no conclusions could be drawn from the study and more research had to be carried out.
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