Can coffee protect against more than one cardiometabolic disease?
The protective effects of coffee and caffeine consumption on morbidity of single cardiometabolic diseases have been shown in many past studies. Unfortunately, it’s more and more common nowadays for people to suffer from more than one cardiometabolic at a time.
Cardiometabolic diseases include diabetes, heart attack, stroke, chronic kidney disease, and non-alcoholic fatty liver disease. Having just one of these diseases increases your risk of death 2 times compared to a healthy person. Having two or more of these diseases increases your risk of dying 4-7 times! That’s why researchers from Soochow University, Suzhou, China, looked at the potential effects of coffee on the development of cardiometabolic multimorbidity in their new study.
The researchers used data from the UK Biobank, a large dietary study with over 500,000 participants aged 37-73. The participants’ cardiometabolic disease outcomes were identified from self-reported medical conditions, primary care data, inpatient hospital data, and death registry records linked to the UK Biobank.
Aim for moderate coffee or caffeine intake every day
The researchers found that any amount of coffee and caffeine intake is inversely associated with the risk of dying from developing a second cardiometabolic disease in people without those types of diseases. Also, participants who reported moderate coffee or caffeine intake had the lowest risk. What is a moderate amount?
- 3 coffees per day
- 200-300 mg of caffeine per day
The study found that compared with people who drink no coffee or less than 100 mg of caffeine a day, moderate coffee or caffeine intake was associated with 48,1% or 40,7% reduced risk for new-onset cardiometabolic multimorbidity.
“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,” said the study’s lead author Chaofu Ke, M.D., PhD, of the Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, School of Public Health at Suzhou Medical College of Soochow University.
Healthy people should drink coffee to reduce their cardiometabolic disease risk
The authors of this new study go as far as saying that coffee drinking or caffeine intake should be recommended to healthy people as a way to increase disease cardiometabolic prevention.
“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 multimorbidity,” Chaofu Ke said.
