Three Cups Coffee A Day Can Extend Age?

This is good news for you who like to drink coffee. One study indicates that adults who consume three or more cups of coffee a day tend to live longer. In fact, the risk of dying because of deathly diseases decreased by 10 percent than those who didn't drink coffee at all.

This is a large-scale research conducted by experts from U.S. National Cancer Institute, which involved nearly 400,000 people. This finding applies to those aged 50-71 years who both drinkers of caffeinated or decaffeinated coffee.

Research shows that coffee drinking was associated with a decreased risk of death from heart disease, respiratory disease, stroke, diabetes, infections and injuries. However, researchers also said that the contribution of coffee consumption to improving the health  remains unclear.

"I think these findings are really important to point out that our study is an observational study. That is, we only ask how much they drank coffee and then watching them," said head of researchers, Neal Freedman of  U.S. National Cancer Institute in Rockville, Md.



Freedman revealed that coffee drinkers tend to smoke more. This is the main cause of death. "We found that coffee drinkers tend to face a higher risk of death. But when we don't connect it with cigarettes, we found an inverse relationship." he said.

The study was published on May 17, 2012 in the New England Journal of Medicine.

For this study, the researchers focused on eating habits of 400,000 men and women involved in National Institutes of Health-AARP Diet and Health Study between 1995 and 1996. None of the participants had a history of cancer, stroke or heart disease.

Each participant was asked about their coffee consumption, ranging from zero to six cups a day or more. The health condition of participants tracked since 2008 until death. The results showed that drinking even one cup of coffee a day was associated with lower risk of death.

But uniquely, drinking coffee is not associated with a decreased risk of cancer in women, and only have protective effect in men only. The protective effect appeared greater among those who drank more than one cup a day. Even so, Freedman noted, few benefits were seen in those who drank two cups a day and six cups a day.

"Going forward, we need to really look at the different components in coffee. In addition to caffeine, coffee contains about 1,000 other compounds and antioxidants, some of which may be beneficial and some not," said Freedman.

Freedman added, the way of how to make the coffee and the selection of coffee types also need to be explored further. "We do not know if this also affects the progression of the disease," he explained.

Freedman recommends, everyone should consult a doctor before starting to drink more coffee. The reason, personal health history can affect how much the amount of coffee consumption are allowed to receive.