The idea that moderate amounts of coffee can be a boon for brain and liver health was always up in the air. While studies carefully pointed to this direction, there was never substantial evidence backing the caffeinated pick-me-up.
Researchers have now linked three to five cups of coffee per day to an overall lower risk of premature death, accumulated from data on more than 200,000 health professionals.
The findings were based off this ‘moderate’ amount, not one cup or so a day. Moreover, for those who smoke cigarettes, the benefits of all that coffee were even greater.
Mentioned above, coffee was always hinted to be a deterrent to adverse health condition; studies from this year alone have shown it’s good for brain health in older people, cancels out liver damage from over-consumption of alcohol, and improves colon cancer survival rates.
Harvard researchers reviewed the data, discovering people who drank 1.1 to 3 cups of coffee per day had a 9 percent lower risk of dying than non-drinkers, while those downing 3.1 to 5 cups per day had a 7 percent lower risk of dying.
Unlike other studies, the researchers factored in smokers, as smokers tend to drink a lot of coffee for the most part. This is where the biggest benefit was: 1.1 to 3 cups per day led to an 8 percent drop in mortality and 3.1 to 5 cups per day had a 15 percent lower risk of death.
“We’re not sure exactly how coffee is [linked] to all these benefits,” said Dr. Walter Willett, a professor of epidemiology and nutrition at Harvard.
“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. We see similar benefits from caffeinated and decaffeinated coffee. That’s important, because it suggests that caffeine is not responsible for [the benefit].”
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