Latest Study: Drinking Coffee Make People Live Longer

A recent study done by American Heart Association said that people who drink one to five cups of coffee a day can lower their risk of death, compared to those who do not drink coffee. However, there's a limit, it should only be five cups or you won’t get the health benefits if you go over it.

“In our study, we found people who drank 3 to 5 cups of coffee per day had about a 15% lower risk of premature mortality compared to people who didn’t drink coffee,” nutrition researcher Walter Willett of the Harvard School of Public Health said.

The study included those drinking decaffeinated coffee. Both the decaf and the original coffee give
similar benefits which only suggests that caffeine is not a factor for the benefits.

“We’re not sure exactly how coffee is linked to all these benefits. The coffee bean itself is loaded with many different nutrients and phytochemicals. And my guess is that they’re working together to have some of these benefits,” Willett said.

Certainly a good news for a coffee addict like me!

How Many Cups of Coffee is safe to take per day?

Coffee has been a daily ritual for most of us, we can't function without having a cup of coffee in the morning. It has also a lot of health benefits like decreasing the risk of stroke and prostate cancer, it also known to fight depression in women. However, too much of anything is always bad.

According to the FDA, 400 mg per day of caffeine (approximately 4 cups of coffee) is a safe amount of caffeine for healthy adults. Taking too much caffeine (500mg above) can cause tremors, restlessness, irritability, insomnia and stomach upset.

Also a Mayo Clinic research found out that healthy young men who drinks over 28 cup of coffee weekly(above 4 cups of coffee a day) increase the risk of death from different causes of about 56%. As for healthy younger woman the increase is 100%.

Coffee Lessen the Risk of Multiple Sclerosis

Here's another reason to enjoy your cup of coffee, researchers at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine conduct a study about coffee consumption effects to MS risk. According to the study, consuming four or more cups of coffee per day may reduce your risk of developing multiple sclerosis (MS).

They conducted the study since caffeine in coffee has been linked with a reduced risk of Parkinson’s disease and Alzheimer’s, they speculate that it may also be true for other neurological disorders like MS.

They will be presenting the their study at the 67th annual meeting of the American Academy of Neurology in Washington, D.C., that will be held on April 18 to 25, 2015.

Dr. Ellen Mowry, assistant professor of neurology at Johns Hopkins University let the team which examine two studies, from Sweden and another from the United States. Included in both study are people with MS and people without MS.

The study from Sweden is composed of 1,629 people with MS and 2,807 those without MS. While the U.S. counterpart is composed of 1,159 people with MS and 1,172 without.

The results of the study from Sweden, the people who didn't consume coffee had 1 and a half times increased risk of developing MS compared to people who regularly drinks coffee of at least 6 cups a day during the year before symptoms appeared. Drinking large amounts of coffee 5 or 10 years before symptoms started was similarly protective.

while in the US study, those who don't drink coffee were also about 1 and a half times more likely to develop MS compared to those who drink four or more cups of coffee a day in the year before symptoms started to develop MS.

You can view the study here

Coffee reduces depression in women

Coffee is known to decrease suicide attempts, reduced risk of Parkinson's disease and delays dementia. It can also positively affect cognitive performance, to reduce liver problems, and to provide antioxidants helpful in fighting cancer.

Now researchers believes that drinking coffee reduces depression in women.

According to the New York Times,

During the decade that the women were followed, 2,607 cases of clinical depression were diagnosed. Over all, women who regularly drank coffee had a lower risk of depression — about 20 percent — than the women who abstained, and the risk was dose-dependent. In other words, the likelihood of depression fell with each additional cup of coffee, in this case up to as many as six cups a day.

When soda, herbal teas and other sources of caffeine were taken into account, the relationship did not hold up. “The other sources were so minimal,” said Dr. Ascherio. “Nobody would get the equivalent of four cups of coffee by drinking tea or caffeinated drinks.”

The researchers aren’t sure why caffeine might keep depression at bay. “We know that caffeine enters the brain and activates the release of different neurotransmitters that are related to mood, like dopamine and serotonin,” Dr. Ascherio said. “That may explain the shorter-term effects on mood. But the long-term mechanisms of caffeine intake on mood we don’t really know.”