Study: Drinking Coffee Will Help You Live Longer

Scientists are always studying coffee—it’s a hot topic, you could say. After scaring certain milk-free coffee drinkers into thinking they could possibly be psychopaths, the guys in the white lab coats are back with a different and more agreeable coffee conclusion: the more you drink, the longer you’ll live.

The study, published in the journal Circulation, suggests those who drink up to five cups of coffee may be less likely to die too early. According to LiveScience, those people were found to have a lesser chance of dying over a 30-year period from heart disease, type 2 diabetes, neurological diseases and suicide.

From LiveScience:

The research showed that people in the study who drank coffee moderately lived slightly longer, and had a reduced risk of death from some chronic diseases, compared with the people who didn’t drink coffee, said Dr. Frank B. Hu, a professor of nutrition and epidemiology at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and a co-author of the study. Other research has established links between coffee drinking and a reduced risk of early mortality, but this new study was one of the largest to show these associations, he said.

Interestingly enough, they key doesn’t lie in the caffeine. Both regular and decaf coffee drinkers will experience the same benefits, which may be due to antioxidants, magnesium and other components that are known to help with blood sugar regulation while reducing inflammation, and even in some cases, with symptoms resulting from Parkinson’s disease.

Of course, coffee isn’t a miracle drug that’ll erase the rest of your lifestyle. For example, the study found that smoking pretty much masked the health effects you would get as a non-smoking coffee drinker.

This isn’t the first time this correlation has seen airtime. A similar study was conducted by the National Institutes of Health with the AARP in 2012 and resulted in similar findings. Feel no guilt! Have another cup!