How you take your coffee could lower your risk of death, according to new study
Britain is most famously known as a tea-drinking nation, but over the years, many of us have graduated to coffee - and the beverage's popularity is only growing.
In the UK, we now drink approximately 98million cups of coffee per day, according to the British Coffee Association, and in all forms, too. Whether it's with sugar, creamer, oat milk or regular milk - the possibilities are endless.
However, what if we told you drinking coffee a certain way could help you live longer? You're probably not pouring your morning cup for the long-term health benefits, but coffee has recently been linked to lower risk of mortality.
In a new observational study, researchers from the Gerald J. and Dorothy R. Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy at Tufts University found the association between coffee consumption and mortality risk changes with the amount of sweeteners and saturated fat added to the beverage.
The study, published online in The Journal of Nutrition, found that consumption of one to two cups of caffeinated coffee per day was linked to a lower risk of death from all causes and death from cardiovascular disease.
Black coffee and coffee with low levels of added sugar and saturated fat were associated with a 14 per cent lower risk of all-cause mortality as compared to no coffee consumption.
The same link was not observed for coffee with high amounts of added sugar and saturated fat.
"Coffee is among the most-consumed beverages in the world... [so] it's important for us to know what it might mean for health,' said Fang Fang Zhang, senior author of the study and the Neely Family Professor at the Friedman School.
"The health benefits of coffee might be attributable to its bioactive compounds, but our results suggest that the addition of sugar and saturated fat may reduce the mortality benefits."
The study, carried out in the US, analysed data from nine consecutive cycles of the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) from 1999 to 2018, linked to National Death Index Mortality Data.
The study included 46,000 adults aged 20 years and older who completed valid first-day 24-hour dietary recalls.
Coffee consumption was categorised by type (caffeinated or decaffeinated), sugar, and saturated fat content. Mortality outcomes included all-cause, cancer, and cardiovascular disease.
Low added sugar (from granulated sugar, honey, and syrup) was defined as under 5 per cent of the Daily Value, which is 2.5 grams per eight-ounce cup or approximately half a teaspoon of sugar.
Low saturated fat (from milk, cream, and half-and-half) was defined as five per cent of the Daily Value, or one gram per eight-ounce cup or the equivalent of five tablespoons of two per cent milk, one tablespoon of light cream, or one tablespoon of half-and-half.
The study shows that drinking at least one cup per day resulted in a 16 per cent lower risk of all-cause mortality. At two to three cups per day, the link rose to 17 per cent.
Drinking more than three cups per day was not associated with additional reductions, and the link between coffee and a lower risk of death by cardiovascular disease weakened when coffee consumption was more than three cups per day. No significant associations were seen between coffee consumption and cancer mortality.
'Few studies have examined how coffee additives could impact the link between coffee consumption and mortality risk," said first author Bingjie Zhou.
"Our study is among the first to quantify how much sweetener and saturated fat are being added."
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