Regular consumption of moderate amounts of coffee, with sugar or unsweetened, is associated with a lower risk of death . This was the conclusion of a study that used data from the UK Biobank and was recently published in a scientific journal. To determine the association between coffee consumption and risk of death, this study included: 171,616 people, who were followed for an average period of 7 years; Average age 55.6 years; No known cardiovascular or oncological diseases at baseline. The participants answered a questionnaire to know their coffee consumption habits, being then divided into 4 groups: Group 1 | Included 55% of participants | they drank coffee without any sugar or sweetener; Group 2 | Included 14% of participants | they drank coffee with sugar; Group 3 | Included 6% of participants | they drank coffee with sweetener; Group 4 | Included 25% of participants | they did not drink coffee. During the follow-up period, 3177 deaths were recorded, of which: 1725 were due to cancer; 628 were due to cardiovascular diseases. After adjusting the data obtained for individual characteristics and risk factors, the main results of this study allowed to conclude that a moderate consumption of coffee with or without sugar is associated with a lower risk of death: People who drank coffee regularly had a 30% lower risk of all-cause mortality compared to non-coffee drinkers; The low risk of death had a maximum value for people who drank 2-4 coffees a day . For those that did not drink coffee and for very high coffee consumption this benefit was not evident. The benefit of drinking coffee is similar regardless of the type of coffee , including decaf; The benefit of drinking coffee was evident for both sugar and unsweetened coffee drinkers , but not for sweetened coffee drinkers, who had a similar risk of death as non-coffee drinkers. The findings of this study reinforce the idea that regular coffee consumption, in moderate amounts , may be associated with a lower risk of developing cardiovascular disease, cancer and death. It was not possible to draw unambiguous conclusions about the effect of coffee with sweetener, because in this group of people the incidence of obesity, hypertension and other diseases was very different from that of the other groups. Author : José Ferreira Santos Source Liu D, Li ZH, Shen D, Zhang PD, Song WQ, Zhang WT, et al. Association of sugar-sweetened, artificially sweetened, and unsweetened coffee consumption with all-cause and cause-specific mortality: A large prospective cohort study . Ann Intern Med 2022 Meet the cardiology clinical team from Hospital da Luz network. The content published in the Health Guide is intended for the general public and is provided for informational and educational purposes only. It does not replace individual medical assessment, diagnosis, or personalized clinical advice from a qualified healthcare professional. The content is produced or reviewed by physicians and other healthcare professionals at Hospital da Luz and is based on the knowledge available at the time of publication or the most recent update, as indicated at the beginning of each item.
