By Andrew Merle
I am obsessed with nutrition for health, performance, and longevity, and I’m a big believer in coffee to achieve these goals.
A new study reinforced my belief in coffee as a fountain of youth. Published in the European Journal of Preventive Cardiology, researchers recruited nearly 450,000 people (average age 58) who were followed for more than 12 years. They looked at the effects of habitual coffee drinking — including ground, instant, and decaf — on arrhythmia, cardiovascular disease, and mortality (death).
The results showed that mortality from any cause was significantly reduced for consumers of all types of coffee, with the greatest risk reduction seen at 2 to 3 cups per day for ground (27% risk reduction), decaf (14% risk reduction), and instant (11% risk reduction). All coffee was also associated with a reduction in cardiovascular disease, with the lowest risk coming from 2 to 3 cups per day of ground (20% lower risk), instant (9% lower risk), and decaf coffee (6% lower risk).
Interestingly, ground and instant coffee were also associated with a significant reduction in arrhythmia (including atrial fibrillation), but decaf coffee was not. The lowest risk for arrhythmia was seen at 4 to 5 cups per day for ground coffee (17% reduction) and 2 to 3 cups per day for instant coffee (12% reduction).
Overall, the results show that several different types of coffee can boost heart health and longevity, with the best outcomes coming from ground coffee. Regardless of the type you drink, 2 to 5 cups per day is a recommended range, with 2 to 3 cups being the sweet spot. Feel good about your daily caffeine fix. Coffee is one of the few true superfoods.
Andrew Merle is a health writer for Medium.com. See www.andrewmerle.com.
