Introduction
Coffee was first introduced to us Indians a few centuries ago- by Baba Budan- who as the lore goes managed to smuggle 7 beans when he was on a pilgrimage to Mecca. He had to hide them in his beard to get them here safely. Fast forward to now, and we have hundreds of coffee estates and plantations growing these jewel red beans for its prized muddy brown decoction that we all call ‘coffee’ or ‘kaapi’. Some of us drink coffee in the morning- strong, black, with milk, espresso, latte, decaf, with or without dairy, etc. - however our preference- for innumerable reasons- to wake up, to socialise, to poop, to fill a void, to stave off an existential crisis or genuinely just enjoy a nice, strong cup of coffee. What if we told you that you could add one more reason to the list- i.e. you could live longer because of the blessed cuppa?
Research Says Coffee Is Good For You
We can do this by looking at 4 large-population based studies based in different parts of the world. They are all observational in nature- which means scientists looked at lots of data that was already collected, to come to some important conclusions. They did not add, manipulate or try to induce any condition in any of these instances. They tend to collect all information over a fixed period of time - like a few decades for example.
4 Observational Studies From 3 Continents
Let us look at what some esteemed scientists from Harvard and other universities all over the world have to say about coffee being linked to longevity.
The latest and first study from the University of Coimbra in Portugal looked at 85 previously done studies to check if there was any link between regular consumption of coffee and its associated health benefits, along with longevity. They found that if you had about 3 cups of coffee everyday, you lived 1.84 years longer than the average non-coffee drinker.
The second study was done in the UK - where over 500,000 Britons gave permission for their data to be used by the UK Biobank, the results of which were published in JAMA Internal Medicine. These individuals were followed over a 10 year period from 2006-2016. They asked participants to fill in highly detailed questionnaires- like how many cups of coffee they consumed daily (from 0-8 or above) and which kind they preferred (ground, instant, decaf, caffeinated, espresso, and so on). A detailed medical history was taken- like age (38-73 years range), weight, height, heart disease risk, diseases they already suffered from and specific parameters for people who smoked or drank alcohol.They wanted to see if the caffeine present was conferring all the positive effects attributed to coffee. Then they tried to check if people who were not able to digest caffeine properly were also able to derive the same benefits as normal folk. Their findings were rather surprising- people who drank decaf were still able to derive all the benefits that a cup of coffee could give! These remained even when the coffee was processed in a specific manner- instant, ground, filter, etc. When these results were compared to people who were not coffee drinkers, they found an inverse relationship between mortality and daily coffee consumption. One important thing to remember is - this study looked at all probable causes for mortality.
The third one we will focus on was done at the Baker Heart and Diabetes Research Institute in Melbourne, Australia. The results were published in the European Journal of Preventive Cardiology. They looked at over 450000 individuals who did not have any cardiac issues like atrial fibrillation (irregular heartbeat), heart disease, heart failure when the study began. They were followed for a 12 year period, after which results were looked at. About 27800 died during the course of the study. For the rest, it was seen that people who drank coffee in some form had a lower risk of suffering from heart issues when compared to people who did not.
The last study (and one of the oldest) we will look at is a Harvard study conducted by Dr. Frank Hu, who headed a 20 year old study. They looked at data from 1976-1996, and had over 210000 people in the study. In it, they tried to see if disease incidence or prevalence was lower with regular coffee consumption or not. The results were very encouraging- you had a lower risk of suffering from Type 2 Diabetes, liver and endometrial cancers, neurodegenerative disorders and depression. Another point of interest was this- people who did NOT smoke seemed to derive the maximum benefits from a cuppa, as opposed to people who smoked. Plus, everyone reacts to caffeine in a different way.
Conclusion
Why do you think coffee is such a versatile and healthy drink? This same question has puzzled scientists for millenia and the one answer they all seem to agree on is- the caffeine present has very little to do with all the health benefits that coffee has to offer. Coffee has thousands of chemicals present- many of which are good antioxidants. It also contains minerals and compounds that all work together in a synergistic manner. The main point of focus for all of these studies was hinging on coffee’s purported effects on longevity. The answer was a resounding yes! People tended to fall ill a lot less and hence lived much longer! This totally means that coffee was and is a drink for the ages!
