According to recent research published in the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism by the Endocrine Society, drinking moderate amounts of coffee and caffeine regularly may help protect against several cardiometabolic diseases, such as type 2 diabetes, coronary heart disease, and stroke.
The study indicated that individuals who regularly consume coffee or caffeine, particularly in moderate amounts, have a lower chance of developing multiple cardiometabolic conditions, known as cardiometabolic multimorbidity (CM). This term refers to having at least two cardiometabolic diseases at the same time.
As populations age globally, the rise of people living with multiple cardiometabolic diseases has become an increasing public health issue, as highlighted in the study.
The researchers discovered that consuming coffee and caffeine might be vital in preventing various stages of CM development.
“Drinking three cups of coffee a day, or consuming 200-300 mg of caffeine, could potentially lower the risk of developing cardiometabolic multimorbidity in individuals who do not currently have any cardiometabolic diseases,” noted the lead author of the study, Dr. Chaofu Ke from the Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, School of Public Health at Suzhou Medical College of Soochow University in Suzhou, China.
The study revealed that when comparing those who do not consume caffeine or those who consume less than 100mg per day, those who have a moderate coffee intake (three cups daily) or caffeine intake (200-300 mg per day) experienced a reduction in risk of new-onset CM by 48.1% and 40.7%, respectively.
Dr. Ke and his team derived their findings from the UK Biobank, a comprehensive longitudinal dietary study involving over 500,000 participants aged 37-73. They excluded individuals with unclear caffeine consumption data, narrowing the participant pool to 172,315 individuals without existing cardiometabolic diseases for caffeine analysis, and 188,091 individuals for coffee and tea consumption analysis.
The outcomes of cardiometabolic diseases were gathered from self-reported medical histories, primary care data, inpatient hospital data, and death registry records attached to the UK Biobank.
Across all levels of coffee and caffeine consumption, an inverse relationship was noted with the risk of developing new-onset CM in participants without any prior cardiometabolic conditions. Those who consumed moderate amounts of coffee or caffeine showed the lowest risk and this moderate intake was linked to reduced risk throughout nearly all stages of CM development.
“These findings suggest that encouraging moderate coffee or caffeine consumption as part of a healthy diet could significantly benefit CM prevention,” added Dr. Ke.
Filling a Research Gap
While numerous epidemiological studies have highlighted the protective benefits of coffee, tea, and caffeine consumption on individual cardiometabolic diseases, the effects of these beverages on the advancement of CM were not well understood until now.
The researchers reviewed existing literature and discovered that people with a single cardiometabolic condition might experience double the risk of all-cause mortality compared to individuals without any cardiometabolic conditions. In contrast, those with CM displayed an almost four to seven times higher all-cause mortality risk. Additionally, they noted that CM could contribute to greater loss of physical function and mental stress compared to individuals with single diseases.
Other contributors to this study included Xujia Lu, Guochen Li, Luying Wu, Liping Shao, Yulong Fan, and Chen-Wei Pan from Soochow University; Xiaohong Zhu from Suzhou Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Suzhou, China; Ying Wu from Southern Medical University in Guangzhou, China; and Yan Borné from Lund University in Malmö, Sweden.
Funding for this research was provided by the National Natural Science Foundation of China, the MOE Key Laboratory of Geriatric Diseases and Immunology project, and the Research on Key Technologies for the Prevention and Control of Major and Infectious Diseases in Suzhou.
