Study: Morning coffee lowers the risk of death

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Coffee in the morning protects the heart, according to a new study. People who drink coffee mainly in the morning have a lower risk of dying from cardiovascular disease than those who do not drink coffee or drink coffee throughout the day. For the study published on Wednesday in the “European Health Journal,” researchers from Tulane University in the USA analyzed data from over 40,000 adults.

The test subjects participated in the US National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey from 1999 to 2018. The results showed that morning coffee drinkers had a 31 percent lower risk of cardiovascular death and a 16 percent lower risk of all-cause mortality compared to coffee abstainers. However, no health benefits were found in the study participants who drank coffee throughout the day.

But why does the timing of coffee drinking play a role? The researchers suspect drinking coffee in the afternoon or evening disrupts the internal biological clock, thus negating the positive effects.

Two to three cups are ideal
The positive effect of drinking coffee in the morning was most pronounced in people who consumed two to three cups of coffee every morning. However, according to the study, those who consumed more than three cups of coffee every morning also benefited from its positive effects on the risk of death.

Positive effects were also measurable in people who drink between one and two cups of coffee daily in the morning. However, they were less pronounced.

Further studies required
So, should coffee abstainers now start drinking coffee? According to the researchers, further studies are needed to validate the results in other population groups. As this was an observational study, only associations and not causal relationships could be established emphasized Thomas Lüscher from the University of Zurich in a commentary on the study published in the same journal.

Although the study was able to show that people who drink coffee in the morning have a lower risk of dying from cardiovascular disease, it could not prove that drinking coffee is really the reason for this. Confounding factors such as differences in lifestyle and dietary habits could have influenced the results, according to Lüscher.

“Drink your coffee”
However, Lüscher believes it is unlikely that a large clinical study on this topic, including a placebo group over a longer period of time, will be conducted in the near future. According to him, the study also has strengths, such as the large number of participants and a follow-up period of almost a decade.

In addition, previous studies have already demonstrated the positive effects of coffee. “As the ingredients in coffee quickly reach the brain and interfere with adenosine and its various receptors, it is not surprising that it has been shown to reduce the risk of depression, Parkinson’s, and Alzheimer’s,” wrote Lüscher.

So the recommendation remains: “Drink your coffee, but do it in the morning!” the cardiologist and researcher wrote. “Overall, we must accept the now-extensive evidence that drinking coffee, especially in the morning, is probably healthy.”