The findings of the study, which are based on data from more than 170,000 healthy participants registered in the UK Biobank, were published in the journal Annals of Internal Medicine.
The mean participant age at the time of enrollment was 56, while individuals were followed from 2009 to 2018.
Researchers, after analyzing the consumption of unsweetened, sugar-sweetened, and artificially sweetened coffee, came to know that those who consumed unsweetened and sugar-sweetened coffee were 30% less likely to die from any cause throughout the study window.
In whichever condition the coffee was (such as instant, ground, or decaffeinated) the outcomes reported were the same.
Earlier observational studies suggested an association between coffee intake and reduced risk for death. But the shortcoming was that these studies did not distinguish between coffee consumed with sugar (or artificial sweeteners) and that without sugar (or artificial sweeteners).
No participant had cancer or cardiovascular disease at the onset of the study. Nonetheless, out of the 3,177 deaths recorded, 1,725 were due to cancer, and 628 were due to cardiovascular disease.
After researchers took lifestyle, sociodemographic, and clinical factors into account, lower mortality risks were also consistent. However, connections between the consumption of artificially sweetened coffee and lower mortality were less consistent.
The limitations of the study are that changes in consumption were not reflected in the data because coffee consumption was only measured at baseline and that the majority of the individuals who were included in the Biobank are of white ethnicity.
Thus it is not clear whether any participant had changed their consumption during the course of the study. Not only this but also the research conclusion is not applicable to all ethnicities as most of the individuals in the Biobank belong to the white ethnicity.
Consuming less than 400 milligrams of caffeine daily is recommended.
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