That morning cup of coffee may boost not just your energy — but also potentially how well you age.
Research recently presented at an annual meeting of the American Society for Nutrition connects caffeinated coffee to healthier aging in women.
The researchers analyzed 30 years of health and dietary data from over 47,000 women and found that women who drink caffeinated coffee in midlife (ages 45-60) are more likely to exhibit healthy aging.
“Healthy aging” was defined as living to age 70 or older while being free from 11 major chronic diseases, maintaining physical function, having good mental health, exhibiting no cognitive impairment and showing no memory complaints.
The women who met that standard consumed 315 milligrams of caffeine per day on average. That amounts to about three small or 1.5 large cups of coffee. While not all of that caffeine was from coffee, more than 80% of it was.
For those in the healthy-agers group, every extra cup of coffee per day — up to five small or 2.5 large cups — was associated with a 2% to 5% higher chance of better health later in life.
Coffee wasn’t the only beverage this research team looked at, though. They also analyzed the effects of decaffeinated coffee, tea and cola.
Regular consumption of tea and decaf coffee didn’t significantly affect long-term health.
Regular cola consumption, however, was linked to a significantly lower chance of healthy aging. Every additional small glass of soda per day was linked to a 20% to 26% lower likelihood of healthy aging.
In the study’s press release, lead author Sara Mahdavi says:
“Moderate coffee intake may offer some protective benefits when combined with other healthy behaviors such as regular exercise, a healthy diet and avoiding smoking.
While this study adds to prior evidence suggesting coffee intake may be linked with healthy aging, the benefits from coffee are relatively modest compared to the impact of overall healthy lifestyle habits and warrant further investigation.”
Learn how moderate coffee consumption is linked to other health benefits in “Drinking This Much Coffee May Ward Off Multiple Diseases.”
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