Coffee Could Save Your Life – New Evidence

August 11, 2017

Spoon Feed
Not only is coffee not bad for you, it could save your life!  This study of over half a million people in 10 European countries found coffee consumption was associated with decreased overall mortality in men and women.

Why does this matter?
I have had loads of patients ask if drinking coffee is bad.  It’s not.  Not to mention, we as a profession drink inordinate amounts of coffee.  I’m thrilled to find out that it is not only health-neutral but may even have a health benefit.

Fill it to the rim!
This was a massive prospective study of 10 European countries with over 520,000 people enrolled in EPIC (European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition) that measured the association of coffee consumption and mortality, among other disease entities.  They found that those in the highest quartile of coffee consumption (a mere 855mL/day or 3.5 8-ounce cups!) all cause mortality was reduced in men, HR 0.88 (95% CI, 0.82 to 0.95), and women 0.93 (0.87–0.98).  Also several other disease-specific causes of mortality were reduced. None were increased except ovarian cancer mortality in women.  If you drink a ton of coffee and don’t smoke, you’re pretty much going to live forever.  A similar, though smaller study was published at the same time in a multi-ethnic cohort and found the same thing and a nice dose-response curve – more was better.

Source
Coffee Drinking and Mortality in 10 European Countries: A Multinational Cohort Study.  Ann Intern Med. 2017 Jul 11. doi: 10.7326/M16-2945. [Epub ahead of print]

Peer reviewed by Thomas Davis, MD.