Don't just sit there, drink coffee
Don't just sit there, drink coffee
The old adage says, “an apple a day keeps the doctor away”. But what if I told you a cup of coffee a day keeps the doctor away. Not your beloved caramel macchiato or vanilla latte from Starbucks, but rather a classic cup of filtered black coffee. A cup of Joe.
Coffee is the wake-up juice as caffeine blocks the adenosine receptors (one receptor type that helps you sleep ) within your brain. But black coffee has so many other healthful benefits other than its anti-snoozing properties.
According to a new analysis of data in a study by BMC Public Health folks who don’t drink any coffee and who sit for six hours or more hours a day are 58% more likely to die in the next decade compared to folks who also sit for six or more hours a day BUT drink coffee! (
https://bmcpublichealth.biomedcentral.com/
articles/10.1186/s12889-024-18515-9). So, take more chugs of coffee!
Another review published in Johns Hopkin Medicine reported data indicating that having two or three 8 ounce servings of black coffee a day can increase life expectancy by more than 4 years (and decrease disability time by about 6 years) by reducing risk of heart failure liver disease, strokes, Alzheimer’s, colon cancer, and Parkinson’s.
If you want to begin drinking coffee regularly for its anti-aging benefits, you must check on a few things. It must be black coffee, possibly with just a hint of leaf stevia or no sugar added nut milk. But do not go overboard! The coffee should be brewed through a paper filter because unfiltered coffee can increase your LDL cholesterol levels (yes Keurig has a paper filter in its pods).
Be wary of other beverages that claim to give you the same spirit boosting benefits that coffee does. Yes, I’m talking about those energy drinks. These drinks, like Monster and Red Bull, have more caffeine along with some things that increase clotting and do not have coffee’s polyphenols so are probably not as beneficial to your cardiovascular and neurological health. Some of the ingredients cause acute organ inflammation, cardiac arrythmias, and in rare cases, autoimmune diseases (doi: 10.3390/nu15183922).
Does tea reduce the risk of dementia also?
An observational study published in PLOS Medicine examined 365,000 older adults in the United Kingdom over an 11-year period. They found that the individuals who drank two to three cups of tea or coffee had a reduced their risk of dementia by 28% and risk of stroke by 32%. The property that both coffee and tea have in common is similar polyphenols-- micronutrients that are traditionally found in plants, fruits, vegetables, and spices. These nutrients can help reduce inflammation, improve digestion, boost brain health. Also, tea is known to decrease levels of LDL (low-density lipoprotein, “bad” cholesterol). A study done in Tangshan, China monitored 80,000 regular tea drinkers over 6 years. They concluded that the individuals “had a slower age-related decrease in HDL levels (high-density lipoprotein, “good” cholesterol that in some people takes LDL from arteries to the liver)”. Thus, they experienced an 8% decrease in risk for cardiovascular disease.
However, there were some drawbacks to this study. Coffee intake was self-reported and did not include the quantity of cups consumed. Also, the overall diet in terms of consumption of fruits, vegetables, and meat was not considered.
Your choices make a big difference! You are a genetic engineer –your choices including coffee or not turn on or off the vast majority of your genes. So, choose your morning beverage like all other food and even the person you spent the night with (if you did)—you’ve got to love that beverage or food (or person), but that beverage or food (or person)should love you back.
Whichever morning time beverage you choose just remember that you are doing more than just having that apple to keep the doctor away. .
Thanks for reading…
Mike Roizen MD
PS by the way, we are still teaching a great Longevity Cooking, adventure and course in Lecce, Italy near the Adriatic Coast in late October: it was incredible fun last year –there are still 5 places available so do not delay signing up---
https://awaitingtable.com/cookery-courses-italy/long-courses/how-to-eat-and-drink/
here is a link to the video from last year: