Health | Coffee | Science

Is Coffee Dangerous to Health? Recent Research Reveals the Truth

What does coffee do to your health? Is it as bad as it seems?

Coffee is the most popular drink in the world. 3 billion people drink coffee daily. 9 billion cups a day. A total of 1,800,000,000 liters a day. If you put all that coffee in a pool, that pool will be the size of New York City.

It is a crucial part of the everyday diet for most people. Still, we didn’t know a lot about the long-term impact of regular coffee drinking.

Until this research has been done. It explains how coffee drinking habit affects cardiovascular health:

• Does coffee increase the risk of a heart attack?
• Does coffee increase the risk of stroke?
• How does coffee affect the risk of death from all causes?

Now, we have verified information about the consequences of coffee drinking. The new information does not match the common knowledge.

Was the study reliable and trustworthy?

Half of a million participants observed for 15 years is a reliable source of information. No random data collision could seriously affect such a large group of participants.

The researchers followed up with the participants 10 to 15 years, with a median follow-up of 11 years. The average participant’s age was 56 years, and 55% were women.

The researchers adjusted results for age, sex, weight, height, smoking status, physical activity, high blood pressure, socioeconomic status, alcohol intake, and consumption of meat, tea, fruit, and vegetables.

They received numbers affected only by coffee drinking, without any extra white noise. So what did the numbers say?

Research principle

All participants were divided into the 3 groups. This distribution was based on the amount of coffee a person drinks daily:

• none — do not drink coffee regularly
• light-to-moderate — 0.5 to 3 cups a day
• high — more than 3 cups per day

During the research, all participants shared their medical notes. Also, participants had to be examined at least once a year.

In the end, the results were adjusted to all external factors. The idea was to analyze how coffee and only coffee affect health.

Results

The common knowledge says that drinking too much coffee is dangerous to health. There are challenges: “Refuse from coffee”, “30 days without coffee”, “Say No to your coffee addiction”. Common sense tells us about the harm coffee does to health.

But should you always follow common sense?

Moderate coffee drinkers are the best

The research exposed that light-to-moderate (0.5 to 3 daily cups) coffee drinking is good for your health.

Light-to-moderate coffee drinker compared to non-coffee drinker has:

• 12% lower risk of all-cause mortality
• 17% lower risk of death from cardiovascular disease
• 21% lower risk of incident stroke

Comment of the lead researcher:

“Compared with participants who did not drink coffee regularly, daily consumers had healthier sized and better functioning hearts. This was consistent with reversing the detrimental effects of aging on the heart.”

It may be shocking at first. But if you give yourself a minute to think over it becomes clear how does coffee drinking affects health.

Explanation

Probably, behind these results, there is a mechanism similar to Nassim Taleb’s “anti-fragile” concept. The base idea is hardening. To prepare your body for serious stress someday, you get a little bit of stress all the time.

Exercising works the same way. You are training to prepare your body for future potential stress. If a person does not exercise, it will be a challenge to lift a heavy bag. If you do exercise, this is not a problem.

Same way with coffee. You can prepare your heart for serious stimulation in case of a heart attack or stroke with smaller stimulations. These stimulations could be caffeine intake on a stable basis.

In other words, a cup of coffee a day takes cardio doctors away.

Similar ideas sound in the research conclusion:

“Our findings suggest that coffee consumption of up to 3 cups per day is associated with positive cardiovascular outcomes. The observed benefits might be explained by positive alterations in cardiac structure and function.”

No harm at all?

But common sense is right too. Coffee may be harmful.

For those who drink too much coffee. People from the high-consumption group showed the worst results. They had significantly higher chances of heart problems compared to none and light-to-moderate groups.

So be careful with coffee. Pay attention to your health and the signals of your body. 3 cups of coffee a day may be OK for you, but too much for another person. Norm is a very personal thing.

But looks like a cup of cappuccino sometimes is not so bad idea.

You can read about more interesting experiences on this list. For example, my 400+ days walking challenge or 365 days exercise challenge.

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