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By Stephen Beech
Women who drink coffee every day age better, according to a new study.
Researchers found that women who enjoy three small daily cups of caffeinated coffee in middle age stay sharp, strong and mentally well as they get older.
But tea and decaffeinated coffee didn’t show the same benefits, while colas were “strongly associated” with less healthy aging, according to the findings of the study that followed thousands of women for 30 years.
Study author Dr. Sara Mahdavi said: “While past studies have linked coffee to individual health outcomes, our study is the first to assess coffee’s impact across multiple domains of aging over three decades.
“The findings suggest that caffeinated coffee, not tea or decaf, may uniquely support aging trajectories that preserve both mental and physical function.”
Dr. Mahdavi, a post-doctoral fellow at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, and an adjunct professor at the University of Toronto, said: “Our study has several key strengths.
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“In addition to the large sample size and 30 years of follow-up, we assessed several different aspects of longevity and healthy aging as well as very comprehensive information on nutritional and lifestyle habits that
were collected every four years after the initiation of the study.”
The study included 47,513 women with dietary and health data collected since 1984.
The research team assessed caffeine intake using questionnaires that included consumption of top contributors of caffeine such as coffee, tea, cola and decaffeinated coffee.
Healthy ageing was defined as living to age 70 or older, being free from 11 major chronic diseases, maintaining physical function, having good mental health, and showing no cognitive impairment or memory complaints.
After 30 years, the research team estimated how the likelihood of healthy ageing changed for every 80mg of caffeine that the study participants consumed per day.
They also examined specific drinks, including coffee, tea, decaffeinated coffee, per eight-ounce cup, and cola, per 12-ounce glass.
The analysis accounted for other factors that might influence healthy aging, including body weight, smoking, alcohol use, physical activity, education level and protein in the diet.
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By 2016, 3,706 of the women in the study met all the requirements for being considered healthy agers.
In middle age, from 45 to 60, those women typically consumed an average of 315 mg of caffeine per day – about the amount in three small cups of coffee or 1.5 large cups by today’s standards.
More than 80% of that caffeine came from regular coffee consumption.
For women in the healthy agers group, each extra cup of coffee per day was tied to a 2% to 5% higher chance of doing well later in life, up to five small cups per day, or about 2.5 cups according to today’s measures.
The research team didn’t find any significant association between drinking decaffeinated coffee or tea with an increased likelihood of healthy aging.
And each additional small glass of pop – another major source of caffeine – was associated with a 20% to 26% lower likelihood of healthy aging.
The researchers say the findings indicate that not all sources of caffeine confer benefits.
Dr. Mahdavi said: “These results, while preliminary, suggest that small, consistent habits can shape long-term health.
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“Moderate coffee intake may offer some protective benefits when combined with other healthy behaviours such as regular exercise, a healthy diet and avoiding smoking.
“While this study adds to prior evidence suggesting coffee intake may be linked with healthy aging, the benefits from coffee are relatively modest compared to the impact of overall healthy lifestyle habits and warrant further investigation.”
The researchers note that, in general, up to two cups of coffee per day should be safe and potentially beneficial for most people.
Beyond that, drinking more may offer additional benefits for some, but may not be healthy for others.
Dr. Mahdavi and her colleagues have shown in a previous study that genetic variation can influence the relationship between caffeine intake and health outcomes, so more caffeine isn’t always better, particularly for people with lower caffeine tolerance or specific genetic susceptibility.
The team now plans to investigate how specific bioactive compounds in coffee interact with genetic and metabolic aging markers, especially in women.
They say that understanding those mechanisms could guide personalised medicine approaches to develop diets that support healthy aging.
Dr. Mahdavi presented the findings at the annual meeting of the American Society for Nutrition in Orlando, Florida.
