Is there anything like that first sip of coffee in the morning? For the 66% of Americans who drink coffee, the answer is no. While caffeine in general often gets a bad rap, a new link has been found between coffee consumption and living longer.
Here’s how coffee can be beneficial to your health and your overall lifespan.
The Health Benefits of Drinking Coffee
Coffee is produced from a cacao bean through a lengthy process that involves roasting, grinding, and steeping the grains. The result—which is available in all sorts of forms such as espresso and cold brew—is the most popular hot beverage in the world.
There’s a ton of variety of beans, roasting methods, and preparations, all of which offer up your daily dose of caffeine and some pretty amazing health benefits. Coffee can potentially support good gut health, which can help with maintaining a healthy weight, as well as reduce body fat in women specifically. It can also support heart health and help reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease. It also is widely known to increase your energy levels. All three of these health benefits can contribute to your overall lifespan.
How Coffee Can Affect Your Longevity
While it might seem counterintuitive given how caffeine affects the body as a stimulant, people who drink coffee may slightly lower their risk of dying early, according to a new study, regardless of the kind of coffee they are drinking. A moderate amount of coffee—identified as two to five cups a day—could help reduce the risk of Type 2 diabetes, heart disease, Parkinson’s Disease, and even depression. By lowering these risks, the overall risk of dying early is also lowered.
Pregnant individuals, children, and those with high anxiety should limit or avoid consumption of coffee due to its caffeine content. Additionally, the study suggests that drinking unfiltered coffee may raise levels of LDL or "bad" cholesterol, which can increase the risk of early death. The study also advises moderation when adding cream and sugar to coffee. So go ahead and have that second cup—it could be a toast to your health.
