New findings from the Nurses’ Health Study show that women who consume coffee daily are linked to healthier aging.
The research examined nearly 50,000 women over a three-decade period. Daily coffee was correlated with more physical strength and mental acuity later in life, according to the study from Harvard University.
Earlier this year, The Dallas Express detailed a report from the University of Coimbra in Portugal that found moderate coffee consumption was tied to a nearly two-year longer lifespan. In that study, the researchers found the benefits of both caffeinated and decaffeinated coffee.
In the latest study, however, the purported benefits were only tied to the traditional caffeinated variety of the hot beverage.
“‘Healthy aging’ here meant surviving to older age without major chronic diseases and with good physical, mental and cognitive function,” Sara Mahdavi, Ph.D., a post-doctoral fellow at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Harvard University, said to Fox News Digital.
“Importantly, this relationship persisted even after accounting for key lifestyle factors like diet quality, physical activity and smoking — each of which are also strongly associated with healthy aging in their own right.”
It may not be the caffeine itself that is generating the benefits. When looking at soda with caffeine, people who consumed it daily were shown to have a 20% to 26% lower chance of healthy aging.
“The health benefits appeared specific to coffee, rather than caffeine more broadly… We didn’t see the same associations with decaf coffee, tea or caffeinated soda — suggesting that coffee’s unique combination of bioactive compounds may play a key role,” said Mahdavi.
Of course, like all observational studies, limitations exist. Despite adjusting for a multitude of factors, Mahdavi says some confounding ones may have been missed.
For example, because many studies have been published over the years linking coffee consumption to health benefits, perhaps the drink naturally attracts healthier individuals.
Regardless, Mahdavi says the health benefits are modest. Ultimately, a healthy diet, regular exercise, and avoiding smoking are the best-known ways to drive healthy aging.