Coffee, the 107th most hashtagged word in Instagram, is more than just social media fuel.
According to a new study published by Harvard University’s school of public health, drinking coffee is correlated with a 15 percent lower risk of dying prematurely from diabetes, heart disease, suicide or Parkinson’s. Keep this in mind the next time someone pretends they’re some sort of hero by ordering a matcha tea for “health reasons.”
These findings are based on a “moderate” amount of coffee consumption, which is defined as between three and five cups a day by study co-author and nutrition researcher Walter Willett. Any cups thereafter likely have little impact on your longevity and will undoubtedly contribute to insomnia and incessant shaking.
The reason coffee decreases your likelihood of premature death is, well, who knows actually. “We’re not sure exactly how coffee is [linked] to all these benefits. The coffee bean itself is loaded with many different nutrients and phytochemicals. And my guess is that they’re working together to have some of these benefits,” said Willett.
Researchers used surveys of over 300,000 nurses and health professionals who answered questions over a period of 30 years to reach their conclusion. They also determined that coffee drinkers are also more likely to smoke, drink, and to eat red meat, which we now know causes cancer.
If you can resist the urge to combine your espresso with a smoke, however, the study found non-smokers who drank a moderate amount of coffee to be 8 to 15 per cent less likely to die.
“This is good news for people who drink coffee because the evidence is strong. Drinking coffee may be good for health outcome,” concluded Frank Hu, a professor of nutrition and epidemiology who helped lead the study.
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