Coffee Might Make You Live Longer, New Study Says

Brew addicts' daily coffee fix is probably doing wonders for their lifespan as a new study reveals that coffee drinkers are more likely to live longer.

So, get that extra cup of coffee. As so many studies have revealed, it offers a host of benefits for happy drinkers.

Coffee Appears To Boost Longevity

The decade-long study, published in the journal JAMA Internal Medicine on Monday, July 2, shows a marked longevity boost for those who drink coffee regularly. It includes data from over half a million people in the United Kingdom.

"We found that people who drank two to three cups per day had about a 12 percent lower risk of death compared to non-coffee drinkers," Erikka Loftfield, a research fellow at the National Cancer Institute, tells NPR.

The team of researchers discovered that the more cups of coffee one consumes, the less likely they die within the study period, according to a report from Live Science.

It's an impressive statistic. Even more impressively, it generally holds true for all coffee drinkers including slow caffeine metabolizers and decaffeinated coffee drinkers.

This implies that coffee's protective properties might not be due to caffeine, specifically. Instead, some scientists say that the coffee bean might be key.

Walter Willett from the Harvard School of Public Health reveals in 2015 that the coffee bean is actually packed with nutrients and phyto-chemicals such as lignans, quinides, and magnesium. All of these may contribute to the health benefits of the daily brew.

Medical News Today notes that there are scientists who have been studying the polyphenols, which is a compound that's found in reduced levels in instant coffee.

Coffee Might Be Really Good For People

Christopher Gardner from the Stanford Prevention Research Center explains to NPR that coffee has some polyphenol-like, antioxidant-rich compounds. Part of the benefit, he points out, is that coffee simply makes people happy.

"Think about when you're drinking coffee — aren't you stopping and relaxing a little bit?" Gardner wonders, adding that drinking coffee is part of his own morning ritual. He drinks about three cups a day.

According to him, coffee got a bad reputation because in the past, many of those who enjoyed their brew also tended to smoke cigarettes.

Whatever it is, there have been multiple studies that point to coffee's health benefits.

"These results provide further evidence that coffee drinking can be part of a healthy diet and may provide reassurance to those who drink coffee and enjoy it," the authors wrote in the paper.