This popular infusion reduces the risk of contracting some diseases and increases life expectancy.
BY NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC STAFF
Alone or in company, to kick-start their routine or during a break at work, thousands of people adopt coffee as their daily beverage. The truth is that it’s not only a delicious infusion, but its consumption also has certain health benefits.
- Coffee increases life expectancy
According to information published on the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine website, coffee drinkers are less likely to die from some of the leading causes of death, such as coronary heart disease, stroke, diabetes, and kidney disease.
In a study conducted between 2009 and 2018 and published in 2022 in the Annals of Internal Medicine, experts concluded that moderate consumption of unsweetened and sugar-sweetened coffee was associated with a lower risk of death.
This article, titled “Association of Sugar-Sweetened, Artificially Sweetened, and Unsweetened Coffee Consumption with All-Cause and Cause-Specific Mortality,” asserts that coffee is a complex mixture and that “it seems unlikely that caffeine alone can explain all of coffee’s potential health effects.”
Furthermore, the article clarifies that the possible beneficial effects are observed primarily with moderate coffee consumption.
- Reduces the chances of developing type 2 diabetes
Furthermore, the academic institution points out that there is evidence that those who drink more coffee are less likely to develop type 2 diabetes.
“Regular coffee consumption may reduce the risk of this type of diabetes by preventing the deterioration of liver and beta cell function during the chronic metabolic stress that precedes the onset of overt diabetes,” Hubert Kolb and colleagues elaborate in the article “Coffee and a Lower Risk of Type 2 Diabetes: Arguments for a Causal Relationship,” published in 2021 in the journal Nutrients.
- Coffee Drinkers Are Less Likely to Develop Parkinson’s
“Caffeine is not only linked to a lower likelihood of developing Parkinson’s disease, but it may also help people with the condition better control their movements,” says Johns Hopkins.
- Coffee Protects the Liver
Both regular and decaffeinated coffee appear to have a protective effect on the liver. According to Johns Hopkins University, “Research shows that coffee drinkers are more likely to have liver enzyme levels within a healthy range than people who don’t drink coffee.”
- Coffee strengthens DNA
On the other hand, the institution continues, “dark-roasted coffee reduces the breakage of DNA strands that occur naturally but can lead to cancer or tumors if cells don’t repair them.”
- Coffee drinkers are less likely to get some types of cancer
Those who drink this brew, whether decaffeinated or regular, may be up to 26% less likely to develop colorectal cancer, says Johns Hopkins University. This is also a point that is constantly being researched.
As Kirsty Pourshahidi and other experts report in a 2016 article published in the journal Comprehensive Reviews in Food Science and Food Safety, various observational findings reported either a beneficial or null effect of coffee consumption on cancer, with the exception of bladder/urinary tract cancers, where the risks of coffee consumption are most frequently reported.
“However, an increased risk of bladder/urinary tract cancer was generally only reported in men, not women,” states the article, titled “Comprehensive Summary of the Risks and Benefits of Coffee Consumption: Coffee Consumption and Human Health.”
However, the document continues, there are intervention studies that suggest coffee may play a beneficial role in reducing the risk of some cancers.
- Drinking coffee may reduce the risk of Alzheimer’s disease
Finally, the American university indicates that the caffeine in two cups of coffee may provide significant protection against the development of Alzheimer’s disease. In fact, she adds, “researchers found that women 65 and older who drank two to three cups of coffee a day were less likely to develop dementia overall.”
According to the 2016 article, it has been postulated that coffee’s antioxidants, which are capable of reducing reactive oxygen species, may lead to a reduced risk of Alzheimer’s disease.
