Like many people, I start my day with a hot cup of antioxidant-rich coffee. It helps me warm up, wake up and get my engine revved for the day ahead.

In fact, my husband jokes that without my coffee I wouldn’t be able to survive.

As it turns out, his little joke might not be too far off the mark…

That’s because a comprehensive review of coffee research has revealed the popular drink could be the secret to healthy aging that’s been under our noses the whole time…

Health that adds up to more years

Researchers at the University of Coimbra in Portugal combed through 85 previous studies involving hundreds of thousands of participants to determine how drinking coffee affects health and lifespan.

Altogether, they found that drinking approximately three cups of coffee a day is associated with an extra 1.84 years of life tacked onto a healthier lifespan.

Those extra years are most likely the result of lowering the risks of several chronic diseases typically seen in older age, including:

• Cardiovascular diseases and stroke – These included hypertension, arrhythmia and ischemic brain diseases, along with metabolic risk factors for cardiovascular diseases, such as metabolic syndrome, type 2 diabetes and obesity.
• Respiratory diseases – Coffee consumption was inversely associated with mortality from respiratory diseases.
• Cognitive decline – The majority of the studies concluded that the regular consumption of coffee is inversely associated with the risk of developing dementia, particularly Alzheimer’s disease.
• Depression – Drinking two to three cups of coffee per day was associated with the lowest risk of depression and anxiety.
• Vision deterioration – The caffeine in coffee was also found to bolster dynamic visual acuity and increase reading rate and tear film quality while preventing neurodegeneration in the eye.
• Frailty – Coffee consumption is also linked to improved physical functioning and reduced frailty. It also affords protective effects against osteoporosis/osteopenia, the risk of falls and the risk of fractures in the elderly.

Coffee’s special ingredients get the credit

According to the researchers, in addition to preventing the most common diseases we face with age, coffee consumption also helps preserve muscular, cardiovascular, mental and immune system functions.

“Traditional clinical recommendations have at times overlooked coffee’s role in healthy aging,” says Rodrigo Cunha, principal investigator in the Center for Neuroscience and Cell Biology and professor at the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Coimbra.

“Our review underlines the role regular, moderate coffee consumption can play in mediating against the biological mechanisms which naturally slow or fail as we get older — triggering a range of potential health issues and comorbidities.”

Those biological mechanisms he’s referring to are known as the 7 pillars of aging and include:

Cunha explained that it’s the molecular constituents of coffee that get the credit for attenuating these aging processes…

“In simple words, chlorogenic acids are antioxidants that can attenuate the chemical deterioration of our cells and allow for better cell recovery after exposure to noxious stimuli.

“In parallel, caffeine refrains the activation of receptors signaling stress and/or danger prompting a reorganization of resources for optimal and more constant function, thus preserving the quality of our cells despite recurrent challenges.”

So don’t feel guilty for enjoying your morning coffee.

Sources:

Impact of coffee intake on human aging: Epidemiology and cellular mechanisms — ScienceDirect

Giant Study Links Drinking Coffee With Almost 2 Extra Years of Life — Science Alert

Coffee may help prolong lifespan by almost 2 years, on average — Medical News Today