Coffee consumption lowers risk of heart disease: study

Two new studies published in the Annals of Internal Medicine have found that people who regularly drink coffee have a lower risk of dying from a long list of common ailments including heart disease, stroke and liver disease. Both studies, which were co-authored by researchers from the International Agency for Research on Cancer and the University of Southern California, looked at the habits of a large sample of subjects (185,000 in one, 450,000 in the other) over the course of two decades (16 years in the first study, 18 years in the second). The first study found that drinking one cup of coffee per day was linked to a 12 per cent lower risk of death, while people who drank two or more cups had an 18 per cent lower risk of death. The second study, which is the largest of its kind, found that men who drank three or more cups of coffee per day had an 18 per cent lower chance of death from any cause, and women had an eight per cent lower chance. The benefits of drinking coffee were found to be consistent regardless of whether it was caffeinated or decaffeinated. Experts have warned however that the studies do not prove that it is coffee that is behind the lower risk, but could instead be something to do with the lifestyles of coffee drinkers.