Like a little barista in the midday rush, coffee research really gets into the weeds. We have passed the courtship phase, the fluctuations between coffee and good health, and we remain there longer, in the details of everyday coexistence. It’s no longer a question of whether coffee is good for you – that’s for sure – and now we’re delving into exactly when, within 24 hours of any given day, coffee might be best for your health. Drinking coffee throughout the day is associated with a lower risk of all-cause mortality, according to a modern study.
As reported CNNthe modern study was published earlier this week in the journal epidemiologist from Harvard, Tulane and George Washington University sought to determine how patterns of daily coffee consumption influence all-cause and cause-specific mortality. For this purpose, the researchers studied “40,725 adults from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey 1999–2018 who had complete information on dietary data, and 1,463 adults from the Women’s and Men’s Lifestyle Validation Study who had complete 7-day record data.” diets.
They then divided the participants into two main groups: those who drank coffee in the morning (36% of all participants) and those who drank coffee throughout the day (14%). After adjusting for confounders such as “hours of sleep, age, race, ethnicity, gender, family income, education, level of physical activity, dietary score, and medical conditions such as diabetes, hypertension and high cholesterol,” they found that drinking only coffee drinkers in the morning were associated with a significantly lower risk of death from any cause, approximately 16%, and a 31% reduction in deaths from cardiovascular disease compared to those who did not consume coffee.
The study found no link among people drinking coffee throughout the day.
These findings led researchers to make this assumption “Drinking coffee in the morning may be more strongly associated with a lower risk of mortality than drinking coffee later in the day.”
The study is purely observational, meaning no causal relationship has been established and other confounding factors must be taken into account before drawing final conclusions. For example, it may be that those who only drink coffee in the morning are more likely to be more physically dynamic, sleep more regularly, and eat better, while people who drink throughout the day may be more likely to exhibit unhealthy habits. I know I’ve never had a cup of coffee after 10 p.m. that wasn’t accompanied by something deadly. However, other potential explanations suggest that coffee later in the day disrupts circadian rhythms and hormone levels, which in turn leads to “higher levels of blood pressure and oxidative stress and a greater risk of cardiovascular disease.”
Luckily for me, I drink my morning coffee out of necessity; anything, coffee in the afternoon, gives me a really bad case of sleepyheads. But for everyone else, consider limiting your caffeine intake in the evening, at least until science sorts out this mess.
