CHICAGO -- Go ahead and have that cup of coffee, maybe even several more. New research shows it may boost chances for a longer life, even for those who down at least eight cups daily. In a study of nearly half-a-million British adults, coffee drinkers had a slightly lower risk of death over 10 years than abstainers. The apparent longevity boost was seen with instant, ground and decaffeinated, results that echo U.S. research. It's the first large study to suggest a benefit even in people with genetic glitches affecting how their bodies use caffeine. Overall, coffee drinkers were about 10 percent to 15 percent less likely to die than abstainers during a decade of follow-up. Differences by amount of coffee consumed and genetic variations were minimal. The results don't prove your coffee pot is a fountain of youth nor are they a reason for abstainers to start drinking coffee, said Alice Lichtenstein, a Tufts University nutrition expert who was not involved in the research. But she said the results reinforce previous research and add additional reassurance for coffee drinkers. "It's hard to believe that something we enjoy so much could be good for us. Or at least not be bad," Lichtenstein said. The study was published Monday in the journal JAMA Internal Medicine. It's not clear exactly how drinking coffee might affect longevity. Lead author Erikka Loftfield, a researcher at the U.S. National Cancer Institute, said coffee contains more than 1,000 chemical compounds including antioxidants, which help protect cells from damage. Other studies have suggested that substances in coffee may reduce inflammation and improve how the body uses insulin, which can reduce chances for developing diabetes. Loftfield said efforts to explain the potential longevity benefit are continuing. The researchers invited 9 million British adults to take part; 498,134 women and men aged 40 to 69 agreed. The low participation rate means those involved may have been healthier than the general U.K. population, the researchers said. Participants filled out questionnaires about daily coffee consumption, exercise and other habits, and received physical exams including blood tests. Most were coffee drinkers; 154,000 or almost one-third drank two to three cups daily and 10,000 drank at least eight cups daily. During the next decade, 14,225 participants died, mostly of cancer or heart disease. Caffeine can cause short-term increases in blood pressure, and some smaller studies have suggested that it might be linked with high blood pressure, especially in people with a genetic variation that causes them to metabolize caffeine slowly. But coffee drinkers in the U.K. study didn't have higher risks than nondrinkers of dying from heart disease and other blood pressure-related causes. And when all causes of death were combined, even slow caffeine metabolizers had a longevity boost. As in previous studies, coffee drinkers were more likely than abstainers to drink alcohol and smoke, but the researchers took those factors into account, and coffee drinking seemed to cancel them out. The research didn't include whether participants drank coffee black or with cream and sugar. But Lichtenstein said loading coffee with extra fat and calories isn't healthy. Last year, two other studies showed that people who drink coffee appear to live longer. But previous research has linked drinking moderate amounts of coffee to a decreased risk of Alzheimer's disease, diabetes, heart disease, and several types of cancer.<doc-sep>Of the 502,641 participants who consented with baseline data, 498,134 (aged 38-73) with complete data on coffee intake and smoking status (and those who weren’t pregnant) were included in the study. Over 10 years of follow up between 2006-2016, researchers found the risk of death from any cause declined as participant coffee consumption increased. In fact, those drinking two to three cups per day, decaffeinated or not, had a 12 percent lower risk of death compared to non-drinkers, National Cancer Institute research fellow Erikka Loftfield told NPR. Folks drinking eight or more cups had a 14 percent lower risk of death. These associations were similar for both ground and instant coffee as well and there was no significant difference in risk for people with genetic variants for slower or faster caffeine metabolism. Researchers noted that coffee beans — not caffeine — may be behind this longevity boost. "My guess is that they're working together to have some of these benefits," Harvard researcher Walter Willett, who authored a similar study that found a link between coffee consumption and lower risk of early death, told NPR in 2015. “The coffee bean itself is loaded with many different nutrients and phyto-chemicals,” many of which aid in insulin resistance and inflammation reduction. » RELATED: This is how much coffee can keep your heart healthy, study says But that doesn’t mean we should all start drinking more coffee. "At this point, the study provides reassurance to coffee drinkers, not guidance," Loftfield told the New York Times. "The results don't indicate that people should begin drinking coffee for its health benefits." Read the full study at jamanetwork.com.<doc-sep>NEW A vastly improved search engine helps you find the latest on companies, business leaders, and news more easily.<doc-sep>
A new study links drinking coffee to living a longer life, according to research published Monday. Researchers studied half a million people across the United Kingdom who drank 1 to 8 cups of coffee a day for the report published in the peer-reviewed medical journal JAMA Internal Medicine. "We found that people who drank two to three cups per day had about a 12 percent lower risk of death compared to non-coffee drinkers" during the decade-long study, Erikka Loftfield, a research fellow at the National Cancer Institute, told NPR. This population-based study including people ages 38 to 73 draws an association between coffee and health, meaning coffee might not be the cause of longevity. Howard Bauchner, editor in chief of the medical journal JAMA and The JAMA Network, noted last month that nearly all studies about coffee are association studies. More:Is coffee healthy or not: How to know if medical studies are worth your time A study published last year in The BMJ British medical journal looked at more than 200 previous studies and suggested drinking three to four cups of coffee a day can positively impact health more than cause harm. Also last year, Spanish researchers reported people who drank at least four cups of coffee a day had a 64 percent lower risk of death than those who never or almost never drank coffee. Two studies published in the Annals of Internal Medicine in July connected coffee consumption to a longer life. Still, some medical professionals warn against starting a coffee habit. An editorial by Eliseo Guallar from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health in Baltimore, Maryland, said there is no way to know if coffee prevents chronic disease and reduces mortality because there are too many factors to weigh like why people start drinking coffee and what kind of coffee drinks they're drinking. Ashley May on Twitter: @AshleyMayTweets