According to a new study, moderate coffee drinkers were less likely to die than non-coffee drinkers. This was true even for people who sweetened their coffee with sugar.
Coffee is one of the most widely consumed beverages in the United States and the world. In fact, according to the National Coffee Association, 66% of Americans drink coffee every day, making it the most popular beverage, even more so than tap water!
With all this consumption, it is fortunate that studies have found possible health benefits of drinking coffee, including an association with a lower risk of dying.
The researchers wondered if this combination was valid for sugary coffee or if a tablespoon of sugar would diminish the benefits. The results were good news for coffee drinkers who like sweets, as they found a reduced risk of death for moderate drinkers of both sugar-free and sugary coffee.
A new cohort study found that, compared to non-coffee drinkers, adults who drank moderate amounts (between 1.5 and 3.5 cups a day) of sugar-free coffee or sugar-sweetened coffee were less likely to drink coffee. die for a follow-up period of 7 years. The results for those using artificial sweeteners were less clear. The findings are published in the Annals of Internal Medicine.
Previous studies looking at the health effects of coffee have found that coffee consumption is associated with a lower risk of death, but did not distinguish between coffee without sugar and coffee with sugar or artificial sweeteners.
The researchers found that those who drank 1.5 to 3.5 cups of sugar-sweetened coffee a day were 29 to 31 percent less likely to die than people who did not drink coffee.
Researchers at Southern Medical University in Guangzhou, China, used data from the Health Behavior Questionnaire to study the UK Biobank to assess associations of consumption of sweetened, artificially sweetened and sugar-free coffee with all-cause and all-cause mortality. specific. More than 171,000 participants in the UK with no known heart disease or cancer were asked various questions about diet and health to determine coffee drinking habits.
The authors found that during the 7-year follow-up period, participants who drank any amount of sugar-free coffee were 16 to 21% less likely to die than participants who did not drink coffee. They also found that participants who drank 1.5 to 3.5 cups of sugar-sweetened coffee a day were 29 to 31 percent less likely to die than participants who did not drink coffee. The authors noted that adults who drank sugary coffee added only about 1 teaspoon of sugar per cup of coffee on average. The results were not conclusive for participants who used artificial sweeteners in their coffee.
An editorial in the Annals of Internal Medicine editors notes that while coffee has qualities that could have potential health benefits, the confusing variables include more difficult-to-measure differences in socioeconomic status, diet, and other lifestyle factors may affect the results. The authors add that the data of the participants are at least 10 years old and have been collected in a country where tea is an equally popular drink. They warn that the average daily amount of sugar per cup of coffee recorded in this analysis is much lower than specialty drinks in popular coffee chain restaurants, and many coffee consumers may drink it instead of other beverages. which makes comparison difficult with non-drinkers. .
From this data, doctors can tell their patients that most coffee drinkers do not need to eliminate the drink from their diet, but should be careful with special high-calorie coffees.
References:
“Effectiveness and Damage of Contraceptive Counseling and Supply Interventions for Women: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis” by Heidi D. Nelson, MD, MPH, Amy Cantor, MD, MPH, Rebecca M. Jungbauer, DrPH, MA, Karen B. Eden, PhD, Blair Darney, PhD, MPH, Katherine Ahrens, PhD, MPH, Amanda Burgess, MPPM, Chandler Atchison, MPH, Rose Goueth, MS and Rongwei Fu, PhD, May 24, 2022, Annals of Internal Medicine.DOI: 10.7326 / M21-4380
“The Potential Health Benefit of Coffee: Does a Spoonful of Sugar Do It All?” by Christina C. Wee, MD, MPH, May 31, 2022, Annals of Internal Medicine.DOI: 10.7326 / M22-1465