A while ago, scientists debunked the myth that drinking coffee “stunts your growth” when you’re young. And now, we’re hearing that it doesn’t “stunt your life” when you’re older.
There’s a new study out from Tufts University, which shows that “drinking one to three cups of caffeinated coffee daily is associated with lower overall mortality”, particularly from cardiovascular causes.
So it could be EXTENDING your life, but there’s a catch: The benefits are specifically for BLACK coffee. If you add cream, sugar, and whatever’s in that giant drink you just ordered from Starbucks, it becomes less healthy.
You don’t have to ditch the additives completely. Black coffee, and coffee with “low levels of added sugar and saturated fat”, were associated with a 14% lower risk of death, compared to no coffee consumption.
The same link was not observed for coffee that’s been drowned in sugar and saturated fat, like milk and cream.
If you’re curious, the study suggests that the lower mortality risk could be attributed to the “bioactive compounds” in coffee.
And “low added sugar” was defined as 2.5 grams per 8-ounce cup, or approximately half a teaspoon. And “low saturated fat” was defined as 1 gram per 8-ounce cup, or 5 tablespoons of 2% milk, 1 tablespoon of light cream, or 1 tablespoon of half-and-half.
Finally, drinking two to three cups was slightly better than drinking one cup, however, there was no added benefit to drinking MORE than three.
