Forget the January detox: finally, there’s a scientific defence for your morning coffee
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As new research suggests a cuppa could keep you alive for longer, Helen Coffey celebrates that, for once, we’re not being told to give up one of life’s greatest simple pleasures. January is all too often the month of “no”. No to drinking (thanks Dry January). No to meat (thanks Veganuary). No to carbs (thanks new diet app that suggests exclusively eating cottage cheese for every meal).
But there’s one thing you finally don’t need to say no to: your morning coffee. And scientists even have our backs on this one. Praise be!. It’s not just that getting your caffeine fix isn’t manifestly bad for you, either; it could actually keep you alive for longer. New research has found a link between drinking a pre-lunch coffee and a significantly reduced risk of heart disease. According to a decade-long study of 40,000 US adults by Tulane University in Louisiana, people who were specifically morning coffee drinkers were 31 per cent less likely to die of cardiovascular disease – and 16 per cent less likely to die earlier of any cause at all – than those who drank no coffee.
As with so much in life, timing is everything: there was no marked difference between those who drank coffee throughout the day and those who drank none at all in terms of mortality rates. “Our findings indicate that it’s not just whether you drink coffee or how much you drink, but the time of day when you drink coffee that’s important,” said the study’s lead author, Lu Qi. “We don’t typically give advice about timing in our dietary guidance, but perhaps we should be thinking about this in the future.”.