Why coffee could be good for your

health
6 November 2024

Share

Save

Jessica Brown

Getty Images
Research suggests that coffee really can be beneficial to our health (Credit: Getty Images)

In the past, coffee was associated with increased health risks. But research

from the last decade finds that drinking coffee may actually benefit your

health.

Caffeine is the most popular psychoactive drug in the world. Humans have
been drinking coffee, a natural source of caffeine, for centuries, but there
have been mixed messages around its effect on human health for decades.

"Traditionally, coffee has been seen as a bad thing," says Marc Gunter,

professor of cancer epidemiology at Imperial College London and former

head of the section of nutrition and metabolism at the International Agency

for Research on Cancer (IARC). "Research from the 1980s and 90s

concluded that people who drank coffee had a higher risk of cardiovascular

disease – but it's evolved since then."

With more, larger-scale population studies emerging over the last decade,

Gunter says, scientists now have data from hundreds of thousands of

coffee-drinkers. But what does the research tell us – and is coffee

consumption providing health benefits, or risks?

You might also like:

ADVERTISEMENT

● How much protein is too much?

● The truth about eating eggs
● Can wine ever really be good for us?

Coffee has been associated with an increased risk of cancer because it

contains acrylamide, a carcinogenic substance found in foods including
toast, cakes and chips. However, the IARC concluded in 2016 that coffee is
not carcinogenic, unless it's drunk very hot – above 65C (149F). In a 2023
review, researchers argue that, while coffee is one of the main sources of
acrylamide in our diets, there is not yet a strong, conclusive evidence base
showing that it relates to cancer risk.

Getty Images
If it’s drunk very hot, coffee can be carcinogenic (Credit: Getty Images)

The potential health benefits of drinking

coffee
Not only that, but more research has found that coffee may actually have a
protective effect. Some studies have shown an association between coffee
drinking and a lower risk of some cancers in patients, for example.

In 2017, Gunter published the results of a study that looked at the

coffee-drinking habits of half a million people across Europe over a period
of 16 years. Those who drank more coffee had a lower risk of dying from
heart disease, stroke and cancer. These findings are consistent with
research from other parts of the world, including the US, and more recent
research in the UK.

ADVERTISEMENT

Gunter says there's enough consensus across observational studies to

confirm that people who drink up to four cups of coffee a day have fewer

diseases compared to those who don't drink any.

The potential benefit of coffee could go further. Coffee-drinkers in Gunter's

study were more likely to smoke and had unhealthier diets than non-coffee

drinkers. This would suggest that if coffee does lower the risk of heart

disease and cancer, it might be more powerful than we think – it's

overriding the effects of unhealthy behaviours.

Getty Images
Both decaffeinated and caffeinated coffee have similar amounts of antioxidants (Credit: Getty Images)

That's true whether it's a cup of decaffeinated or caffeinated coffee. Decaf

coffee has similar amounts of antioxidants as normal coffee, research has
found. Gunter hasn’t found in his research any differences between the
health of people who drank caffeinated versus decaf, which led him to
conclude that the health benefits associated with coffee are due to
something other than caffeine.

Why we can't really know how coffee

affects our health
However, all of this research was based on population data – which doesn’t

confirm cause and effect.

ADVERTISEMENT

People who consume coffee may simply have better underlying health than
people who choose not to

People who consume coffee may simply have better underlying health than

people who choose not to, says Peter Rogers, who studies the effects of

caffeine on behaviour, mood, alertness and attention at the University of

Bristol. That's in spite of their unhealthier lifestyle habits, as found in

Gunter’s research.

"Some people suggested there might be a protective effect, which is

somewhat controversial as it's based on population evidence," he says.

Meanwhile, people who consume coffee regularly often have higher blood

pressure, which should increase the risk of cardiovascular disease. But,

Rogers says, there isn't evidence that higher blood pressure from drinking

coffee is associated with higher risk of cardiovascular disease.

Getty Images
People who consume coffee regularly often have higher blood pressure – but it doesn’t seem to increase their
risk of cardiovascular disease (Credit: Getty Images)

ADVERTISEMENT

Clinical trials looking into coffee – which could better determine its benefits
and risks – are rarer than population studies. But a group of researchers
conducted one trial in which they observed the effects of drinking
caffeinated coffee on blood sugar.

The small study, conducted by the Centre for Nutrition Exercise and

Metabolism at England's University of Bath, looked at how coffee affects

the body's response to breakfast after a fragmented night's sleep. They

found that participants who drank coffee, followed by a sugary drink that

stood in for breakfast, had a 50% increase in blood sugar, compared to

when they didn't consume coffee before "breakfast".

Still, this kind of behaviour would have to happen repeatedly over time for

the risk to accumulate.

Getty Images
It’s difficult to know just how research conducted in a laboratory setting applies to real life (Credit: Getty Images)

Putting people into laboratory settings also brings up the question of how

relevant the findings are to real life – indicating that neither population, or

lab research can provide definitive answers on how coffee affects our

health.
 ADVERTISEMENT

Can drinking coffee increase the risk of

miscarriage?
Advice on caffeinated coffee consumption is particularly confusing in
pregnancy. One 2022 review of studies found a link between coffee
consumption before and during pregnancy and misscarriage. But the
researchers say that, since they looked at population studies, there could
be other explanations for the relationship they found between coffee
consumption and pregnancy loss. For example, smoking is related to
caffeine intake, they say, and is known to increase the risk of misscarriage.

Esther Myers, a dietician and chief executive of EF Myers Consulting,

carried out a review of 380 studies and concluded that four cups of coffee
per day for adults, and three for pregnant women, shouldn’t lead to any
adverse effects.

However, the Food Standard Agency advises pregnant and breastfeeding

women not to have more than one to two cups of coffee per day. A review
of previous studies concluded that pregnant women should cut out coffee
entirely to reduce the risk of miscarriage, low birth weight and stillbirth.

Getty Images
A review of previous studies concluded that pregnant women should cut out caffeinated coffee entirely (Credit:
Getty Images)

Emily Oster, an economist and author of the book Expecting Better, which

explores the data around pregnancy recommendations, also found

guidance around coffee to be inconsistent.

 ADVERTISEMENT

"The big concern is the possibility that caffeine consumption is linked to

miscarriage, especially in the first three months," she says.

But, she says, there isn't much randomised data on this, and drawing

conclusions from observational data isn't reliable.

"Women who drink coffee in pregnancy are likely to be older and are more

likely to smoke. We know age and tobacco consumption are causally linked

to higher rates of miscarriage," she says.

"The second issue is that women who are nauseous in early pregnancy are

less likely to miscarry. These women also avoid coffee – it's the kind of

thing that bothers you if you're already feeling sick – so a lot of women who

are nauseous and aren’t consuming coffee are less likely to miscarry."

Consuming coffee produces no net benefit to our ability to work efficiently

because we become tolerant to that effect – Peter Rogers
ADVERTISEMENT

Two to four cups of coffee a day, Oster says, don't seem to be related to an

increased risk of miscarriage.

What about caffeine addiction?

Aside from coffee's potential effects on heart health, cancer and

miscarriage, there is how it influences the brain and nervous system.

Caffeine is a psychoactive drug, which means it affects our cognition.

Within the general population, some people can drink caffeinated coffee all
day long, while others become anxious after one cup. Studies have found
that differences in our genes can affect how differently two people
metabolise caffeine. But, Myers says, "we don't understand why one
person is perfectly fine with a level of caffeine and another person is not".

For regular drinkers, meanwhile, there's bad news for those who drink

coffee for a boost in concentration.

"As the body gets used to receiving caffeine on a daily basis, there are

physiological changes that adapt the body to live with caffeine and maintain

normal function," says Rogers. "Consuming coffee produces no net benefit

to our ability to work efficiently because we become tolerant to that effect,

but as long as you keep consuming it, you're probably not worse off."

ADVERTISEMENT

Getty Images
If you’re a regular coffee drinker, a cup is unlikely to help boost your concentration (Credit: Getty Images)

The only people who stand to use caffeine to their advantage, he says, are

those who don't drink it regularly.

At the other end of the spectrum, many people joke about being addicted to

coffee. But in most cases, they're just dependent, says Rogers.

"There's a low risk of addiction to caffeine – if you take it away from

someone, they don't feel great but they're not strongly craving it," he says.
Coffee, he says, demonstrates the difference between addiction, where

there is a compulsion to get the drug, and dependence, where the user's

cognitive performance is impaired, but they don't go to lengths to get it.

ADVERTISEMENT

The only thing coffee-drinkers need to be aware of, he says, is withdrawal.

"Anyone who drinks a few cups of coffee a day is dependent on caffeine. If

you took their coffee away, they’d be tired and would maybe have a

headache," Rogers says.

These symptoms depend on how much coffee the person was drinking, but

they usually last between three days and a week, he says – in which time,

caffeine is the only thing that will alleviate them.

Does the type of coffee matter?

The way you brew your coffee – whether lovingly crafting it from bean to

cup or throwing some instant powder into a mug – doesn't seem to change

the association with better health. By studying people across Europe,

Gunter found that various types of coffee still were associated with health

benefits.

"People drank a smaller espresso in Italy and Spain; in northern Europe,

people drank larger volumes of coffee and more instant coffee," says

Gunter. "We looked at different types of coffee and saw consistent results

across counties, which suggests it’s not about types of coffee but

coffee-drinking per se."

Getty Images
All types of coffee are associated with health benefits, though those benefits are stronger for ground coffee
(Credit: Getty Images)

Still, researchers from a 2018 study found that the relationship between
coffee and lifespan were stronger for ground coffee than for instant or decaf
– although these were still found to be healthier than not drinking any
coffee at all. The discrepancy, the paper states, could be because instant
coffees have lower amounts of bioactive compounds, including
polyphenols, which are known for their anti-inflammatory properties