New Coffee Data, Coffee Cake for the Winter Holidays, and Longer Life For All

Like everyone else, I want to live forever. And I want everyone I love to live forever. That fact makes me completely ordinary. With that unconscious thought buzzing in my back brain, news from the Annals of Internal Medicine that regular coffee-drinking is associated with longer life jolted me into a state of subdued ecstasy! At long last, data on the impact of coffee on mortality.

About the Study
There were almost 130,000 people altogether, including 41,726 men and 86,214 women. At the beginning of the study, everyone was healthy---no cancer, no heart disease. Over the next 18 years, however, some people got sick. The researchers wanted to know how drinking coffee affected the risk of developing cancer or heart disease and death in general (during that 18-year period).

In men, drinking less than one cup of coffee a day was associated with a 7% higher risk of death. The stats got better as they drank more, however. Drinking 7 cups of coffee a week decreased the risk of death by 3% compared with the overall group. And in men, drinking at least 6 cups of coffee a day reduced the risk of death by 20% in the overall group. In women, drinking 7 cups per week decreased the risk of mortality by 18%--a benefit that remained constant as their consumption increased to 6+ cups per day.

Coffee Cake Anyone?
Already, we are heading into the final stretch of 2008---a lovely year for drinking coffee. As we move towards winter holidays and finally towards New Year celebrations, I will be turning to Alma Schneider of Take Back the Kitchen for tips on how to make her recipe “Grandma’s Depression Era Dark-Chocolate Cake”. (Two cups of dark, dark coffee, yummm…) That way, as my family frolics its way through the holiday season, I can serve cake, make people healthier, and keep them energized for all of the celebrations to come!

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Comments

Thanks for the great news! I love coffee and am looking forward to my next cup tomorrow morning. Any plans to discuss coffee and children sometime? That would be very interesting to me.
Nicole Gray said…
Hi Joe,

I've collected some interesting data from survey respondents about what their parents taught them about coffee vs. what they are teaching their kids---and when they plan to let their kids start drinking coffee. It's very interesting how many children grow up with the idea that coffee is a vice (not in my household!). I will post on that soon. Happy coffee-drinking!
Anonymous said…
hi there! I just had to add that the cool thing about my grandmother's depression-era coffee cake (aside from the fact that it has two cups of coffee in it!) is that every time someone in my family makes it we end up sitting around sharing great stories about grandma and it brings us all together! We just had some on Christmas...it was delish!

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