NIH study finds that coffee drinkers have lower risk of death

<i>Researchers caution, however, that they can't be sure whether these associations mean that drinking coffee actually makes people live longer. </i><p><i>Also, information was not available on how the coffee was prepared (espresso, boiled, filtered, etc.); the researchers consider it possible that preparation methods may affect the levels of any protective components in coffee. </i><p>I wonder who pays for these studies... It seems like this article was written to be misquoted by tabloids all over the world.

Just out of curiosity, am I crazy by <i>not</i> regularly drinking coffee? Is there some benefit from it that I'm potentially missing out on, or will I perhaps be in for a rude awakening in a few years because of my lack of it? I do recall reading somewhere that people who did drink coffee vs those who didn't had better odds against things like Alzheimer's disease, so maybe that's one benefit..?<p>I'm completely serious in asking - I passed my 30th birthday a couple weeks ago and even for the past few years my aunt and others I know always ask how I get by without it. I have no aversion to it and would drink it if I needed a boost due to a poor night's sleep, but that would be maybe once every few months at most. This doesn't make me special at all so I'm not boasting or anything - the only reason I don't drink it(other than fear of stained teeth) is because I don't want to develop a need* for it, i.e. "I can't start my day until I've had that first mug". That would hardly be the worst thing in the world, but I'd just rather avoid it if I could.<p>For what it's worth I typically get 6-7 hours of sleep each night, and I exercise several times a week.<p>*I would typically use the word addiction, but that might be a little too strong given the context

Doesn't everyone by definition have the same risk of death? (<i>spoiler alert:</i> it's gonna happen).<p>Shouldn't this read "lower risk of health-related death causes?" or something similar.<p>Seems like a link-bait type headline with a lot of sketchy information to be considered a scientific study.<p>Also, correlation /=/ causation.<p><i>Although we cannot infer a causal relationship between coffee drinking and lower risk of death, we believe these results do provide some reassurance that coffee drinking does not adversely affect health."</i>

From the submitted article:<p>"Neal Freedman, Ph.D., Division of Cancer Epidemiology and Genetics, NCI, and his colleagues examined the association between coffee drinking and risk of death in 400,000 U.S. men and women ages 50 to 71 who participated in the NIH-AARP Diet and Health Study. Information about coffee intake was collected once by questionnaire at study entry in 1995-1996. The participants were followed until the date they died or Dec. 31, 2008, whichever came first."<p>Collecting data about coffee use only once would of course miss collecting data about people whose habits changed during the course of the study.<p>"The researchers found that the association between coffee and reduction in risk of death increased with the amount of coffee consumed. Relative to men and women who did not drink coffee, those who consumed three or more cups of coffee per day had approximately a 10 percent lower risk of death."<p>Looking at the data to see if there is a dose response is a key issue in observational studies of this kind that many other studies miss. This isn't the last word on the subject, for the reason mentioned above and for other reasons mentioned in other comments, but at least here the study authors are treating coffee use as a quantitative independent variable and not just as a binary variable.<p>For the record, I began daily use of coffee (one cup each morning with breakfast) only after age forty. I asked around a long time before learning how to establish a habit that would not spiral into increasingly heavy use and physiological tolerance that would keep me upping my dosage for years and years and years. I come from a family with varying coffee-drinking habits but generally long lifespans.

Food experiments suck. Coffee is a complex beverage. I see a few variables that must be isolated; caffeine and sugar intake being the biggest two. What do non-coffee drinkers drink more of on average? I'm guessing sugary sodas.

Could there be selection bias? Stupid example theory: Habitual coffee drinkers do so because they have to wake up every morning to go to work, which is a population group that has a steady income and life, does not abuse substances and has access to healthcare. All factors that increase the length of life.

For something like this, it's probably best as a non-specialist not to put too much weight on any one study, and wait for a good meta-analysis. There have been a <i>lot</i> of studies on the effect of coffee drinking in various populations, on various diseases, and the results are not strongly consistent.<p>I seem to recall (but can't find a good reference at the moment) that one of the many puzzles in the area is why American studies more often find positive results than European studies; possibly relates to the kind of coffee consumed or methods of preparation, or possibly to interactions with other factors, or different demographic correlates.

In other words: People who happen to drink coffee, for some reason that may or may not be related to coffee, live longer on average than people who don't drink coffee. Do people who don't drink coffee have lifestyles similar to those who do? On average, I highly doubt it. Observational studies are terrible when they generate headlines, but good when they generate controlled, scientific studies with proper isolation of variables. Since this is super expensive to do with humans as test subjects, it's not done very often, leading to piles upon piles of shitty science pertaining to human nutrition.

I'd be interested to know if they controlled for employment. I imagine employed people are more likely to drink coffee, less likely to have disabilities, and more likely to have health insurance and better health care in general.

"The researchers found that the association between coffee and reduction in risk of death increased with the amount of coffee consumed."<p>Unfortunately, drinking too much coffee in one go can kill you, as it is toxic.

I read this as, "Coffee increases your chances of living forever."

Ehm, last time I checked risk of death was 100% for every human being.<p>But maybe coffee gives some odds?

Effect is for three cups per day or more. I find more than 1.5 cups in a day... distasteful.

Caffeine (used at strategic times) makes you care, boosting willpower and determination which brings success, success brings money and happiness, happiness makes you live longer. Too much caffeine has the opposite effect though. I want to know how much they consumed, not just that they did.<p>It's like saying a nitro boost usage in car racing causes winning. Yes, at a penalty of burning out the engine.