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A recent study connects drinking coffee daily to a younger biological age in a specific group.
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The study looked at people with severe mental health issues and found that participants who drank a certain amount of coffee were biologically around five years younger than non-coffee-drinking participants.
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Experts explain what the findings mean and how they may apply to the general public.
You officially have an excuse to pour that third cup of coffee that you’ve been internally debating. New research connects drinking three to four cups of coffee a day to slower biological aging, increasing lifespan up to five years.
Meet the Experts: Gary Small, M.D., psychiatrist and director of behavioral health breakthrough therapies at Hackensack Meridian Health; and David J. Fein, M.D., assistant professor of clinical psychiatry LSUHSC School of Medicine in New Orleans.
Study participants were people with severe mental illnesses (SMI), but experts say the findings could be applicable to the general public. This isn’t the first study to connect drinking coffee to lifespan.
Below, experts explain exactly how this one differs, and how a daily pleasure as simple as a cup of coffee has the potential to be so impactful.
What did the study find?
The study, published in BMJ Mental Health, followed 436 people with SMIs and found that participants who drank three to four cups of coffee a day had a lower average biological age by up to five years, compared to non-coffee drinkers. Therefore, the coffee drinkers could potentially live up to five years longer. The benefits plateaued and declined once the amount consumed reached five cups daily. The study also did not disclose how participants drank their coffee (i.e. black or with cream and sugar).
Biological age was measured by telomere length, which was collected via blood samples. “Telomere length is the span of the DNA sequences at the ends of chromosomes that protect genetic material during cell division,” explains Gary Small, M.D., psychiatrist and director of behavioral health breakthrough therapies at Hackensack Meridian Health. “Shorter telomeres are associated with both psychiatric vulnerability and mortality. They are likely not a cause, but a mediator or biological marker of disease or life expectancy.”
The study followed people with SMIs such as schizophrenia, major depression, and bipolar disorder. “Telomeres are highly sensitive to oxidative stress and inflammation, which are common in patients with SMIs and likely contribute to telomere shortening,” says David J. Fein, M.D., assistant professor of clinical psychiatry LSUHSC School of Medicine in New Orleans. “The longer the telomere, the less degradation of the chromosome, and the less cellular aging.”
How coffee may improve lifespan
The life-extending potential in a morning cup of java comes down to antioxidants, experts ntoe. Coffee is rich with antioxidant and anti-inflammatory plant compounds, “which help to minimize the effects of oxidative stress and inflammation, thus preserving telomere length,” explains Dr. Fein.
Dr. Small adds: “Oxidative stress is a key driver of accelerated aging, and heightened inflammation contributes to many age-related diseases that reduce life expectancy, including cancer, dementia, and heart disease. Coffee consumption also improves metabolic health, reducing the risk for type 2 diabetes.”
Coffee contains caffeine, “which itself has been associated with longer telomere length by increasing certain enzymes that are involved in telomere length and maintenance, namely the enzyme TERT (telomerase reverse transcriptase),” Dr. Fein explains.
The bottom line
“It’s possible that these findings are relevant to a general population, but it is a leap to make such a generalization,” says Dr. Small. “The caffeine from coffee increases mental alertness, which can have positive effects on mood and behavior. However, too much coffee will lead to uncomfortable and sometimes dangerous side effects, such as anxiety, elevated stress hormones, insomnia, heart palpitations, and increased heart rate.”
Because of that, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recommends not exceeding 400 milligrams of caffeine a day, which is equivalent to about two to three 12-ounce cups of coffee. That recommendation is slightly less than the intake of study participants. Also, it’s worth noting that the majority of coffee’s researched benefits apply to black coffee without cream or sugar, which tends to limit the beverage’s health benefits and may even contribute to metabolic health problems.
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