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Journal Scan / Research · July 20, 2017

Higher Coffee Consumption Is Associated With Lower Mortality Risks Among Nonwhite Populations

Annals of Internal Medicine

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• Data from the Multiethnic Cohort were analyzed to evaluate the association between coffee consumption and mortality in blacks, native Hawaiians, Japanese Americans, Latinos, and whites over an average follow-up of 16.2 years. Caffeinated and decaffeinated coffee consumption was associated with a significant reduction in total mortality risk compared with no coffee consumption among blacks, Japanese Americans, Latinos, and whites.

• Coffee consumption is associated with a reduced mortality risk in blacks, Japanese Americans, Latinos, and whites.

 Primary Care

Written by

 

 

Peter Lin MD, CCFP

 Cardiology

Written by

 

 

Paul D Thompson MD

Could My Coffee Be a Good Addiction?

What a relief! I cannot function in the morning without a cup of coffee, and two large observational trials, the Multiethnic Cohort (MEC) study and the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer & Nutrition (EPIC) study, found that coffee consumption is associated with reduced total mortality.1,2 

MEC enrolled 185,855 individuals of African American, native Hawaiian, Japanese American, or Latino descent. Coffee intake was assessed at baseline and mortality was determined after an average of 16.2 years. EPIC enrolled 521,330 individuals from 10 European countries and determined mortality after an average of 16.4 years.  

MEC found that compared to no coffee, 1, 2-3, and ≥4 cups per day reduced the risk of death by 12, 16, and 18%, respectively. Heart, cancer, respiratory, stroke, diabetes, and kidney deaths were all reduced. EPIC found that men and women in the highest quartile of coffee consumption had 12% and 7% reductions in all-cause mortality. Coffee was associated with reduced digestive disease deaths in both men and women. Circulatory and cerebrovascular disease mortality was reduced in women, but ovarian cancer mortality was increased.  

Most clinicians think of coffee as a source of caffeine and as a potential cause of palpitations, but coffee contains other compounds with potentially beneficial health effects. Indeed, in MEC, both caffeinated and decaffeinated coffee consumption were associated with reductions in death. A subset of 14,800 EPIC subjects had biomarkers measured, and coffee use was associated with lower liver enzyme, hsCRP, lipoprotein (a), and hemoglobin A1c levels.  

These are observational studies so cannot prove causation, but the enormous sample sizes and control for confounders provides credibility to the results. For those patients in whom caffeinated coffee worsens palpitations, decaffeinated coffee may be just as beneficial. These results can be used to reassure patients that their coffee addiction may be more beneficial than harmful, and to even suggest that an increase from no to some coffee may be beneficial.

References

1. Park SY, Freedman ND, Haiman CA, Le Marchand L, Wilkens LR, Setiawan VW. Association of coffee consumption with total and cause-specific mortality among nonwhite populations. Ann Intern Med. 2017 Jul 11. doi:10.7326/M16-2472. [Epub ahead of print] http://annals.org/aim/article/2643433/association-coffee-consumption-total-cause-specific-mortality-among-nonwhite-populations
2. Gunter MJ, Murphy N, Cross AJ, et al. Coffee drinking and mortality in 10 European countries: a multinational cohort study. Ann Intern Med. 2017 Jul 11. doi:10.7326/M16-2945. [Epub ahead of print] http://annals.org/aim/article/2643435/coffee-drinking-mortality-10-european-countries-multinational-cohort-study