14 votes

Coffee drinkers are more likely to live longer. Decaf may do the trick, too

8 comments

  1. [4]
    rib
    Link
    Did they actually prove that drinking coffee extends life, or did they just prove that people who drink coffee have longer lives? Correlation does not equal causation. At least they proved that...

    Did they actually prove that drinking coffee extends life, or did they just prove that people who drink coffee have longer lives? Correlation does not equal causation. At least they proved that it's not harmful(mortality-wise) otherwise the stats would show the inverse.

    11 votes
    1. Crespyl
      Link Parent
      That's my question too, I would suspect that people who have very stable habits/rituals (and are otherwise healthy) would tend to have slightly longer lives than people without those habits. From...

      That's my question too, I would suspect that people who have very stable habits/rituals (and are otherwise healthy) would tend to have slightly longer lives than people without those habits.

      From the article it looks like they're focused on the chemical properties of the bean, but I'd be curious to see how other similar habits (tea for example) impact life expectancy.

      3 votes
    2. Gaywallet
      Link Parent
      The latter. This is a survey. Unfortunately, there's very little you can do with nutrition science, especially something that persists over such a long period of time. You can control for other...

      The latter. This is a survey.

      Unfortunately, there's very little you can do with nutrition science, especially something that persists over such a long period of time.

      You can control for other life factors and comorbidities, but unless you have a naturally occurring phenomenon (for example, the introduction of coffee to a society that previously did not have access), there's close to no way to prove causation.

      2 votes
    3. Gandalf
      Link Parent
      When those articles that state that drinking a modest amount of alcohol correlates with people living longer I often see responses that speculate it is likely caused by the fact that people who...

      When those articles that state that drinking a modest amount of alcohol correlates with people living longer I often see responses that speculate it is likely caused by the fact that people who are sick or have a medical ailment are less likely to be drinkers. I personally am inclined to believe this study is likely explained by similar reasons. Coffee drinkers could be more likely to be employed or financially secure or maybe less likely to be battling severe illness.

      1 vote
  2. [2]
    shadow
    Link
    Heard this on the radio this morning. It doesn't increase life expectancy a ton, but it's a decent amount. The decaf suggests it's not the caffeine, but crazy combinations of the 1000s of...

    Heard this on the radio this morning. It doesn't increase life expectancy a ton, but it's a decent amount. The decaf suggests it's not the caffeine, but crazy combinations of the 1000s of nutrients, chemicals, and compounds in the bean itself.

    Funny thing, I don't drink coffee! :P

    Edit: Also, they said the bad rap that coffee got long ago was due to entangling smokers and coffee drinkers in the same group. Now that they're able to (and know to) disentangle them and look at those effects separately, coffee is looking good!

    6 votes
    1. Dondo
      Link Parent
      I thought it was an interesting tidbit, the smoking and coffee relationship.

      I thought it was an interesting tidbit, the smoking and coffee relationship.

      3 votes
  3. fchu
    Link
    They might have compared the caffeine metabolizing gene, but it doesn't look like they checked whether the coffee drinkers were wealthier than non-coffee drinkers. Daily cups of coffee really add...

    They might have compared the caffeine metabolizing gene, but it doesn't look like they checked whether the coffee drinkers were wealthier than non-coffee drinkers. Daily cups of coffee really add up, and richer people are more likely to live longer.

    3 votes
  4. rodya
    Link
    There are studies like this for any food you can think of, they're basically noise at this point.

    There are studies like this for any food you can think of, they're basically noise at this point.