GUANGZHOU, China — Adding a spoonful of sugar to a cup of coffee could be the key to a longer life, according to a new study. Scientists have found coffee-drinkers are at a lower risk of death than non-coffee drinkers, but those who like the drink sweet are even less likely to die.
Researchers in China who followed a group of British adults for an average of seven years found people who drank between one and a half to three and a half cups of caffeinated coffee were less likely to die during that time in comparison to those who did not take sugar or those who do did drink coffee at all.
People who drank any amount of unsweetened coffee were up to 21 percent less likely to die than those who did not drink coffee.
Those who like their coffee sweet were up to 31 percent less likely to die than non-coffee drinkers during the follow-up period — if they kept their coffee consumption between one and a half and three and a half cups a day. Adults who took sugar only added one spoonful on average.
Drinking coffee displayed a connection to a lower risk of dying from any cause, dying from cancer, and dying from heart disease. It didn’t matter whether people drank decaffeinated, instant, or ground coffee — the results held up for all of them.
What about artificial sweeteners?
The team notes that their results were inconclusive for participants adding artificial sweeteners to their coffee. Earlier research has shown the beverage puts coffee-drinkers at a lower risk of dying, but those studies did not distinguish between sweetened and unsweetened coffee.
During the new study, researchers looked at data on more than 171,000 adults participating in the UK Biobank study health behavior questionnaire. The healthy volunteers, who did not have a known case of heart disease or cancer, answered dietary and health questions to determine the effect of their coffee-drinking habits. Scientists followed up with each person from 2009 to 2018.
While the results, published in the journal Annals of Internal Medicine, adjusted for each person’s lifestyle, demographics, and clinical factors, they do not prove drinking coffee is the only reason participants were less likely to die.
No matter how you take it, coffee connects to health
The average amount of sugar participants took was much lower than the amount typically added to a drink in coffee chain restaurants. However, the study authors say that, based on their findings alone, doctors do not need to tell coffee-drinking patients to kick the habit.
“Our study found that adults who drank moderate amounts of coffee sweetened with sugar every day were about 30 percent less likely to die from any cause during the average of seven year follow up period compared to non-coffee drinkers,” study author Dan Liu from Southern Medical University says in a statement, according to SWNS. “These novel findings are of clinical and public health relevance.”
“Drinking coffee was associated with a lower risk of dying whether or not you added sugar,” adds Annals of Internal Medicine deputy editor Dr. Christina Wee.
“The relationship between drinking coffee with artificial sweeteners and your risk of dying was less clear in the study,” Dr. Wee tells SWNS. “The authors found that drinking moderate levels of coffee regularly was associated with a lower risk of dying from any cause, dying from cancer and dying from heart disease. The lower risk of dying associated with moderate levels of coffee-drinking was true regardless of whether you drank decaffeinated coffee, instant coffee or ground coffee.”
South West News Service writer Gwyn Wright contributed to this report.
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What a crock of crap!
Lissy don’t hate on coffee just because it gave you the shits in the middle of Wal-mart one time.
Indeed. Coffee alone has benefits, but sugar is extremely toxic. If anyone disputes this, then I say go ahead and consume sugar. Sooner or later you will join the countless millions of people who have diabetes, heart disease, and many other problems. Read up on the horrendous effects of sugar. Or ignore it and pay the price. It’s your choice.
The title used isn’t correct…looky what the study said regarding sugar…” . “ Although the present findings suggested that adding sugar did not eliminate the health benefits of coffee, Liu and colleagues still cautioned against sweetened beverages, citing widely known associations between sugar consumption and poor health.”
How did Gwyen get this twist from the study…..
“Coffee drinkers live longer, especially if they add a spoonful of sugar”
Of course I’ll believe a study on the health benefits of sugared coffee authored by a nation of tea drinkers.
Given recent history Chinese reporting is as trustworthy as ours and Russia’s is better.
That’s only true for deluded loons who idolize Trump. What an absurd statement.
How much are you paying for gas and groceries these days?
I drink a 12 cup pot before I leave to go to work, and then drink coffee all day at work, with loads of sugar. Heck, I might live forever!
This study funded by Maxwell House, Folgers and C&H Sugar. LOL!
Next study will say coffee drinkers live 5 years less on the average. Just wait.
Coffee healthy? Coffee helps you live longer? What an absolute joke. I suggest everyone read the book Caffeine Blues by Stephen Cherniske if you want the truth.
No, it won’t. This actually reinforces what has been revealed about coffee over the last several years. Don’t denigrate science, it makes your modern life possible. Your comment is lazy and pointless.
Did they account for a simple fact a significant number of people who did not drink coffee at all did do because they had issues with high blood pressure, and those who did drink coffee but shipped the sugar did so because they had issues with diabetes?
No faith in Wee on the Annals?
“People who drank any amount of unsweetened coffee were up to 21 percent less likely to die than those who did not drink coffee.”
Hate to tell you this, but nobody is “21 percent less likely to die.” We are all 100% guaranteed to die.
If the sentence, “It didn’t matter whether people drank decaffeinated, instant, or ground coffee — the results held up for all of them,” is true, then why did the author specify “caffeinated,” in the following statement: “…people who drank between one and a half to three and a half cups of caffeinated coffee were less likely to die…”?
Right! Who is dumb enough to believe this. Exactly why no one cares about science anymore.
It’s only used as a manipulation tactic.
Everyone knows sugar is bad for you .
Idiots
There are many studies on the health benefits of coffee. Why all the coffee hate?
I feel better now. I love my Nespresso machine, but It needs some sugar and I did feel guilty for using a little sugar (less than a teaspoon). Now I can enjoy it guilt free.
I’m guessing it’s all the other sugar people eat in a day that’s bad for their health, not the small amount one would put in coffee.
Too many studies.
The Chinese studying Brits.
Does anyone else see what’s wrong here?
An issue worth getting to the bottom of!
I love coffee????i drink a pot of coffee a.day I use creamer no sugar i have drinking it since grade school i am 72 hears old feel ok so I am a big coffee drinker
A testament that coffee helps us live longer
The author of this didn’t include this from the original study. “ Although the present findings suggested that adding sugar did not eliminate the health benefits of coffee, Liu and colleagues still cautioned against sweetened beverages, citing widely known associations between sugar consumption and poor health.
In an accompanying editorial, Christina C. Wee, MD, MPH, deputy editor of Annals of Internal Medicine, pointed out a key detail from the data: the amount of sugar added to coffee in the U.K. study may be dwarfed by the amount consumed by some coffee drinkers across the pond.
“The average dose of added sugar per cup of sweetened coffee [in the study] was only a little over a teaspoon, or about 4 grams,” Wee wrote. “This is a far cry from the 15 grams of sugar in an 8-ounce cup of caramel macchiato https://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/974816