Coffee – can it keep you alive longer?

Research published this year in the New England Journal of Medicine suggests that coffee can do far more than just keep you awake. There is an increasing number of research papers suggesting the benefits of coffee on many systems in the body. This study suggested coffee will increase blood-pressure and over time this may lead to a higher blood pressure than non-coffee drinkers. However the potential benefit of 2 cups of coffee a day was that the coffee was able to reduce LDL cholesterol and potentially lower risk of coronary heart disease. Other research has also supported this paper in suggesting coffee can reduce the incidence of strokes, reduce the incidence of diabetes, improve weight loss capacity, reduces the progression of neurodegerative diseases including dementia, reduce risk of depression, and with large consumption possibly reduce the incidence of some cancers.

However all of this is not free of problems as coffee may increase the risk of other health issues including increasing blood pressure, create insomnia, increase anxiety, as well as the dreaded coffee withdrawal.

More information on the potential benefits of coffee and further information on the topics discussed in this article can be found at http://www.medscape.com

References:

Freedman ND, Park Y, Abnet CC, et al. Association of coffee drinking with total and cause-specific mortality. N Engl J Med. 2012;366:1891-1904.

Published August 1, 2012