Leo Sher, M.D.

A paper, “Association of coffee consumption with total and cause-specific mortality in three large prospective cohorts” has just been published in Circulation (1). The authors studied the associations of consumption of total, caffeinated, and decaffeinated coffee with risk of subsequent total and cause-specific mortality among 74,890 women in the Nurses’ Health Study (NHS), 93,054 women in the NHS 2, and 40,557 men in the Health Professionals Follow-up Study. During 4,690,072 person-years of follow-up, 19,524 women and 12,432 men deceased.
 
Compared to non-drinkers, coffee consumption one to five cups/day was associated with decreased risk of death, while coffee consumption more than five cups/day was not associated with risk of mortality. Significant inverse associations were observed between coffee consumption and deaths due to cardiovascular disease, neurological diseases, type 2 diabetes and suicide. The benefit appeared whether the coffee was regular or decaffeinated. The authors suggest that “Results from this and previous studies indicate that coffee consumption can be incorporated into a healthy lifestyle.” It is important to note that the study did not allow for causal conclusions, but only associations among groups of people who drank different amounts of coffee.

Circulation is a medical journal published by Lippincott Williams & Wilkins for the American Heart Association. The journal publishes papers related to the pathophysiology and treatment of cardiovascular diseases. It was founded in 1950.

Reference
1.    Ding M, Satija A, Bhupathiraju SN, Hu Y,  Sun Q, Han J, Lopez-Garcia E, Willett W, van Dam RM, Hu FB. Association of coffee consumption with total and cause-specific mortality in three large prospective cohorts. Circulation. Published online before print November 16, 2015, doi: 10.1161/CIRCULATIONAHA.115.017341