A new study revealed that drinking a cup or two of coffee every day increases your lifespan but only if you skip heavy cream and sugar.
Research published in The Journal of Nutrition revealed that black coffee or coffee along with some sugar and saturated fat was associated with a reduced risk of premature death.
However, people can’t get any health benefits when individuals consume coffee with lots of sweeteners.
Senior author Fang Fang Zhang of Tufts University stated, “Coffee is among the most-consumed beverages in the world, and with a nearly half of American adults reporting drinking at least one cup per day, it’s important for us to know what it might mean for health.”
Drinking coffee may increase your life — but skip sugar and saturated fat
For the study, researchers collected data from more than 46,000 US adults and assessed the type of coffee that people consumed — caffeinated or decaf, and the amount of sugar and saturated fats added.
Results indicated that drinking at least one cup of caffeinated coffee per day was associated with nearly 16% reduced risk of premature death from any cause.
Drinking two to three cups a day was associated with a 17% reduced risk.
No clear association was found between coffee and cancer deaths.
Researchers discovered that individuals who consumed black coffee or coffee with small amounts of sugar and saturated fat benefited the most.
Lead author Bingjie Zhou, a recent Ph.D. graduate at Tufts mentioned, “Few studies have examined how coffee additives could impact the link between coffee consumption and mortality risk, and our study is among the first to quantify how much sweetener and saturated fat are being added.”
They stressed the need for more research as the study may not be perfectly precise, and revealed that fewer individuals drank decaf, possibly explaining why no strong association was seen between decaf and early death.
