Many of us enjoy a cup of coffee in the morning, with around 98 million cups consumed in the UK every day. It’s commonly used as a way to boost energy levels thanks to the caffeine found in the drink.
While it may taste good and help us feel ready for the day ahead, new evidence has revealed it could also provide multiple health benefits, shielding us from some dangerous medical issues.
According to a study, published in the Endocrine Society’s Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism, regularly drinking coffee could protect against developing multiple cardiometabolic diseases, including type 2 diabetes, coronary heart disease and stroke.
Researchers from China discovered that regular coffee or caffeine intake, particularly at moderate levels, was associated with a lower risk of new-onset cardiometabolic multimorbidity.
As reported by Science Daily, cardiometabolic multimorbidity refers to the coexistence of at least two cardiometabolic diseases.
Lead study author Chaofu Ke, from the Suzhou Medical College of Soochow University, explained: “Consuming three cups of coffee, or 200-300 mg caffeine, per day might help to reduce the risk of developing cardiometabolic multimorbidity in individuals without any cardiometabolic disease.”
More specifically, the study showed that consumers of moderate amounts of coffee (three drinks per day) or caffeine (200 to 300 mg per day) had a 48.1 percent or 40.7 percent reduced risk for new-onset cardiometabolic disease.
This was compared to people classed as non-consumers or consumers of less than 100mg caffeine per day.
As part of the research the team analysed data from the UK Biobank, a dietary study with over 500,000 participants aged 37 to 73 years.
However, the study excluded individuals who had ambiguous information on caffeine intake.
Therefore, the participants included a total of 172,315 individuals who were free of any cardiometabolic diseases at baseline for the analyses of caffeine, and a corresponding 188,091 individuals for the analyses of coffee and tea consumption.
The participants’ cardiometabolic diseases outcomes were identified from self-reported medical conditions, primary care data, linked inpatient hospital data and death registry records linked to the data set.
Ke added: “The findings highlight that promoting moderate amounts of coffee or caffeine intake as a dietary habit to healthy people might have far-reaching benefits for the prevention of cardiometabolic diseases.”
Coffee can be made at home for as little as 4p a serving with a 200g jar (equivalent to 55 servicings) of gold roast instant coffee from Sainsbury’s costing £2.25.