I have been drinking coffee since sixth grade, and with few exceptions, I have enjoyed a cup (or two or three) every morning since then. I love coffee so much that I look forward to going to bed because I’m that much closer to my morning cup of coffee. Then, when I wake up, the thought of my first cup of joe motivates me to get out of bed. I feel sorry for dogs because they don’t drink coffee and it doesn’t compute for me when a human tells me they don’t drink coffee.

My love of coffee is so strong that even if I learned that it was rotting my insides and shortening my life I’d still drink it. But that’s not the case. It turns out that COFFEE IS GOOD FOR OUR HEALTH! YAY!

But wait, weren’t there reports that coffee is bad for us? Yes, back in 1991 the World Health Organization included coffee in its list of possible carcinogens, but coffee was later exonerated and was removed from the list in 2016. The older studies picked up on the positive association with being a coffee drinker and smoking, but when coffee drinking was isolated from smoking, they realized that coffee was mistakenly associated with cancer risk.

Coffee Health Benefits

Coffee contains more than one thousand chemicals, including caffeine, of course, Vitamin B2 (riboflavin), Magnesium, and plant phytochemicals. These chemicals combine to provide health benefits, including:

• Longevity. According to a 2022 Harvard Health study of over 170,000 people, drinking coffee is associated with a lower risk of death and a longer lifespan. The study tracked participants for an average of seven years, taking into account factors like diet, lifestyle, age, sex, and ethnicity. The study found that people who drank 1.5–3.5 cups of coffee per day were up to 30% less likely to die during the study period than those who didn’t drink coffee. The benefit seemed to apply to both caffeinated and decaffeinated coffee, but it decreased for those who drank more than 4.5 cups per day.

• Reduced Diabetes Risk. “Long-term studies have shown that habitual coffee drinkers have a lower risk of developing type 2 diabetes compared with non-drinkers. The polyphenols and minerals such as magnesium in coffee may improve the effectiveness of insulin and glucose metabolism in the body.” Source.

• Heart Health. The relationship between coffee and heart health is complex, and how the coffee is brewed (with or without a filter) and how much you consume are factors. Overall, however, the consumption of coffee seems to be slightly beneficial for heart health. According to the Harvard H.T. Chan School of Public Health, the “evidence suggests that drinking coffee regularly may lower the risk of heart disease and stroke.” Similarly, a 2023 metastudy concluded that “moderate coffee consumption is associated with a decrease in all-cause and cardiovascular disease-related mortality, hypertension, cholesterol, heart failure, and atrial fibrillation.”

• Lower Risk of Neurodegenerative Disease. Moderate consumption of coffee is correlated with reduced risk of Parkinson’s Disease, Alzheimer’s, and dementia. For example, “a systematic review of 26 studies including cohort and case-control studies found a 25% lower risk of developing PD with higher intakes of caffeinated coffee.” And “drinking 3-5 cups of coffee a day at midlife (mean age 50 years) was associated with a significantly decreased risk of Alzheimer’s disease later in life compared with low coffee drinkers after 21 years of follow-up.” Source.

All great news! So, if you love coffee (and I hope you do!), go ahead and drink up. With the caveat, that coffee health benefits were linked to MODERATE intake and the consumption of cups of coffee and not sugary, calorie dense coffee-based drinks like lattes and frapuchinos.