Drinking two to three cups of coffee a day is associated with longer lifespan and lower risk of cardiovascular disease compared to coffee avoidance. This is according to a new study published on September 27 in the European Journal of Preventive Cardiology, a journal of the European Society of Cardiology (ESC). The results of increased longevity applied to ground, instant and decaffeinated coffee varieties.
“In this large observational study, ground, instant, and decaffeinated coffee were associated with equivalent reductions in the incidence of cardiovascular disease and death from cardiovascular disease or any other cause,” the author said. study, Professor Peter Kistler. He is an international leader in cardiac arrhythmia research from the Baker Heart and Diabetes Research Institute, Melbourne, Australia. “The results suggest that light to moderate consumption of ground, instant and decaffeinated coffee should be considered part of a healthy lifestyle.”
All types of coffee were associated with reduced deaths from all causes in the study. The greatest risk reduction was seen with two to three cups a day, with ground coffee providing the most benefit. Consuming two to three cups of ground coffee a day was associated with a 27% lower chance of death and a 20% lower chance of cardiovascular disease.
Prior to this, there was little information about the impact of different coffee preparations on heart health and survival. Therefore, this study examined the associations between coffee types and incident arrhythmias, cardiovascular disease and death using data from the UK Biobank, which recruited adults aged 40-69 years. Cardiovascular diseases included coronary heart disease, congestive heart failure and ischemic stroke.
The study included 449,563 participants who were free of arrhythmias or other cardiovascular disease at baseline. The median age of participants was 58 years and 55.3% were female. A questionnaire was completed by the participants, which asked how many cups of coffee they drank each day and whether they usually drank instant, ground (such as cappuccino or filtered coffee) or decaffeinated coffee. Additionally, they were grouped into six daily intake categories, including none, less than one, one, two to three, four to five, and more than five cups per day. The usual type of coffee was instant in 198,062 (44.1%) participants, ground in 82,575 (18.4%), and decaffeinated in 68,416 (15.2%). Non-coffee drinkers, who served as a comparison group, made up 100,510 (22.4%) of the participants.
Coffee drinkers were compared to non-drinkers for incidence of cardiovascular disease, arrhythmias and death, after adjusting for age, ethnicity, gender, obesity, diabetes, hypertension blood pressure, smoking status, obstructive sleep apnea, and tea and alcohol consumption. Outcome information was obtained from medical records and death certificates. The median follow-up was 12.5 years.
A total of 27,809 (6.2%) participants died during follow-up. All coffee subtypes were linked to reduced deaths from all causes. The greatest risk reduction was seen with two to three cups a day, which, compared to no coffee consumption, was associated with a reduced probability of death of 14%, 27%, and 11% for decaffeinated, ground and instant preparations, respectively.
Cardiovascular disease was diagnosed in 43,173 (9.6%) participants during follow-up. All types of coffee were associated with a reduction in incident cardiovascular disease. Again, the lowest risk was observed with two to three cups a day, which compared to abstinence from coffee was associated with a 6%, 20%, and 9% lower probability of cardiovascular disease. for decaffeinated, ground and instant coffee, respectively.
Arrhythmia was diagnosed in 30,100 (6.7%) participants during follow-up. Ground and instant coffee, but not decaffeinated, was associated with a reduction in arrhythmias, including atrial fibrillation. Compared to non-drinkers, the lowest risks were observed with four to five cups per day for ground coffee and two to three cups per day for instant coffee, with 17% and 12% reduced risk respectively.
Professor Kistler said: “Caffeine is the most well-known constituent of coffee, but the drink contains over 100 biologically active components. It is likely that non-caffeinated compounds are responsible for the observed positive relationships between coffee consumption, cardiovascular disease and survival. Our results indicate that drinking small amounts of coffee of all types should not be discouraged, but can be enjoyed as a heart-healthy behavior.
Reference: “The impact of coffee subtypes on incident cardiovascular disease, arrhythmias and mortality: long-term results from the UK Biobank” by David Chieng, Rodrigo Canovas, Louise Segan, Hariharan Sugumar, Aleksandr Voskoboinik, Sandeep Prabhu, Liang Han Ling, Geoffrey Lee, Joseph B Morton, David M Kaye, Jonathan M Kalman and Peter M Kistler, September 27, 2022, European Journal of Preventive Cardiology.
DOI: 10.1093/eurjpc/zwac189