Drinking coffee could be more than just a morning pick-me-up, new study suggests

Aside from being a staple in many people’s morning routines, coffee could help reduce the risk of developing at least two coexisting cardiometabolic diseases, such as diabetes or high blood pressure, according to a new study.

Thus, those who consume a moderate amount of coffee (two to three cups per day) or caffeine (between 200 and 300 mg per day) have a lower risk of seeing the onset of symptoms of cardiometabolic multimorbidity than those who do not drink coffee or who consume less than 100 mg of caffeine per day, according to the results of a study published by the Oxford University Press on behalf of the Endocrine Society.

Cardiometabolic multimorbidity is a combination of two or more cardiometabolic diseases such as obesity, diabetes, cardiovascular diseases (high blood pressure, stroke, heart failure), liver diseases such as fatty liver disease or soda disease, and even gynecological disorders, the Foundation for Innovation in Cardiometabolism and Nutrition states on its website.

“Coffee and caffeine consumption may play an important protective role in almost all phases of the development of cardiometabolic multimorbidity,” Dr.^D Chao fu Ke, lead author of the study and associate professor in the Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics at Soochow University in Suzhou, China.

According to researchers who analyzed data from nearly 180,000 people from the UK Biobank, the risk of developing cardiometabolic multimorbidity is reduced by 48.1% if you consume at least three cups of coffee per day and by 40.7% if you consume between 200 and 300 mg of caffeine, compared to non-consumers or consumers of less than 100 mg of caffeine.

What is moderate coffee consumption?

Many beverages contain caffeine, but the amount of fluid you need to drink to reach this moderate consumption threshold can vary depending on the substance you are taking.

For example, a Venti Americano, the largest size (591 ml) in one of the locations of the popular Starbucks franchise, contains 300 mg of caffeine, so drinking one will be enough to reach the maximum for moderate consumption.

However, you would need to drink two Venti lattes to reach that same caffeine level. As for tea, you would need to consume at least five Venti Earl Greys to reach the minimum 200 mg of caffeine.

Also, many soft drinks, such as Coca-Cola, also contain caffeine, but it should be noted that they are also high in sugar. A small 237 ml bottle of Coca-Cola will have 23 mg of caffeine (about 10 mg of caffeine per 100 ml), but will also contain 26 g of sugar (about 11 g of sugar per 100 ml). You will therefore need to drink at least nine of these small bottles of Coca-Cola to obtain the required amount of caffeine for moderate consumption. However, you will have consumed 234 g of sugar, which is more than twice the recommended daily value, according to the Health Canada website.

To compare with Coca-Cola, a latte contains about 25 mg of caffeine per 100 ml and less than 4 g of sugar per 100 ml, which limits sugar consumption to 32 g of sugar to reach the minimum threshold for moderate caffeine consumption.

The best options are still black coffee, such as Americano, or tea, which in turn do not contain sugar, unless you add some.

But should we start drinking coffee?

The study’s researchers, however, noted that some past observational studies “have suggested inverse associations between coffee, tea, and caffeine consumption and individual cardiometabolic disease risks.”

And as the D raises^r Gregoru Marcus, associate chief of cardiology research and professor of medicine at the University of California, San Francisco—who was not involved in the study—these new findings don’t necessarily indicate that you should start a regular caffeine routine.

“While caffeine, coffee and tea, in the amounts described in this study are indeed good for our health, there is also strong evidence that high doses of caffeine, particularly when included in artificial concoctions like energy drinks, can actually cause harmful or even dangerous heart rhythm problems,” he said in an interview with CNN.