One to three cups of coffee a day may be good for the heart, research suggests
(Picture: PA Archive)Drinking moderate amounts of coffee could slash the risk of early death by up to 31 per cent, according to a new study.
Research examining data on the caffeine habits of more than 171,000 Britons found those who drank two cups a day were between 16 and 21 per cent less likely to die than their peers who shunned coffee.
A team from Southern Medical University in Guangzhou, China examined data from the UK Biobank across a period of seven years and looked at participants who did not have cancer or heart disease.
The study found that those who had a “moderate” coffee habit–defined as between one and a half to three and a half cups per day–were at a lower risk of premature death or death from cancer or heart disease.
Those who drank coffee without sweetener were up to 29 per cent less likely to die than non-coffee drinkers, with the figure rising slightly to 31 per cent for those who added a spoon of sugar.
The results of the study were published in the Annals of Internal Medicine on Monday.
Dr Christina Wee, deputy editor of the journal, cautioned that the results do not “definitely” prove that drinking coffee lowers the risk of dying.
“What we can probably say is that drinking coffee with a little bit of sugar probably doesn’t cause much harm,” she said.
The findings chime with a study published in March by the Hospital and Baker Heart Institute in Melbourne, Australia which found that drinking two or three cups of coffee a day may be linked to a reduced risk of heart disease.
Researchers examined data from 382,535 people without known heart disease to see whether coffee drinking played a role in the development of heart disease or stroke during the 10 years of follow up.
They found that in general having two to three cups of coffee a day was associated with the greatest benefit, with a 10-15 per cent lower risk of developing coronary heart disease, heart failure, a heart rhythm problem, or dying for any reason.
