Healthy Aging: Drinking coffee can add years to your life

A comprehensive review recently examined the scientific evidence linking coffee to healthy aging. The experts found that daily coffee consumption can help us age healthily by up to two years.

The proportion of people aged 65 and older is increasing rapidly worldwide and is expected to rise from 10% in 2022 to 16% in 2050.

The paper highlights how regular, moderate coffee consumption can be an essential part of a healthy and balanced lifestyle for this aging population.

For reference, the European Food Safety Authority considers a daily caffeine intake of up to 400 mg – the equivalent of three to five cups of coffee – to be moderate and safe for most adults. However, pregnant and breastfeeding women should limit their intake to 200 mg per day.

Coffee and reduced risk of mortality

Coffee, one of the most extensively studied foods in the world, has been linked to a reduced risk of all-cause mortality in over 50 studies.

Research shows that coffee can play a measurable role in reducing the risk of cardiovascular disease, cancer, respiratory disease, cognitive decline and frailty.

The research found that regular coffee consumption can extend a healthy lifestyle by an average of 1.8 years. This suggests that coffee not only contributes to longevity, but also promotes health during those extra years.

Unlike some nutritional interventions that may have gender-specific effects, the increased healthy life expectancy associated with coffee consumption has been observed in both men and women.

Coffee and biological aging

In addition to reducing the risk of chronic diseases, the study also examined how coffee affects the biological processes associated with aging.

These mechanisms include attenuating genomic instability – cell mutations that contribute to aging – and improving normal cell function.

To ensure reliability, the review focused on studies involving humans and human tissue to provide a clearer picture of coffee’s health benefits.

The role of coffee in healthy aging

Traditional clinical advice for older adults often recommends reducing or even avoiding coffee consumption. However, the review suggests that these guidelines should be reconsidered in light of increasing evidence of coffee’s positive role in healthy aging.

“Traditional clinical recommendations have at times overlooked the role of coffee in healthy aging, but given a strong research base on how regular consumption can potentially reduce some of society’s most chronic diseases, it is probably time to reassess.” said lead author Rodrigo Cuhno, an expert in biochemistry at the University of Coimbra.

“We know that the world’s population is aging faster than ever before, which is why it is becoming increasingly important to explore nutritional interventions that could enable people to live not only longer, but also healthier lives.”

While caffeine is the most well-known component of coffee, it also contains over 2,000 bioactive compounds. Among these, polyphenols provide antioxidant and anti-inflammatory benefits that may help reduce neuroinflammation and regulate insulin sensitivity.

Unanswered questions and future research

Although both caffeinated and non-caffeinated compounds in coffee help extend a healthy lifespan, much is still unknown about their exact mechanisms of action.

The authors emphasize the need for further research to understand how these compounds work and to identify individuals who may benefit most from coffee’s unique properties.

“Our research highlights the role that regular, moderate coffee consumption can play in combating the biological mechanisms that naturally slow or fail with age – triggering a range of potential health problems and comorbidities,” said Cuhna.

“And there is still room to understand more about exactly how these mechanisms work and which individuals may be biologically predisposed to benefit most from coffee’s interactions with them.”

This review highlights coffee’s potential as a valuable dietary ingredient to promote healthy aging.

A new perspective on coffee consumption

The research not only illuminates coffee’s contribution to reducing chronic disease risks, but also highlights its broader biological benefits, paving the way for future research in this area.

“The idea of ​​coffee consumption has undergone a profound change, evolving from a harmful habit to a safe lifestyle that actually protects human health,” the researchers write.

“The last 20 years have also provided strikingly consistent epidemiological evidence that regular consumption of moderate doses of coffee reduces all-cause mortality, an effect that has been observed in over 50 studies in different geographical regions and different ethnic groups.”

The study is published in the journal Reviews of aging research.

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