Coffee- for some people it’s a daily necessity, and to others it’s something they’d rather stay away from. Recently, a Stanford released the findings of studies showing that those in the coffee drinking category were WAY better off.
So, what’s going on here? Did somebody find a genie and make an awesome wish? Probably.
Past studies have shown age related inflammation as a main cause of a wide range of ailments, from cancer and cardiovascular disease on one side of the spectrum to high blood pressure on the other, and virtually everything in between.
“More than 90 percent of all noncommunicable diseases of aging are associated with chronic inflammation,” said the study’s lead author, David Furman, PhD, a consulting associate professor at the Stanford Institute for Immunity, Transplantation and Infection. What does that mean? If you’re sick from something old people get and it’s not a contagious disease, there’s a 90% shot that it’s associated with chronic inflammation that came with aging.
Now, not everybody has the genes activated that are associated with chronic inflammation (genes can activate or deactivate at different points in your life, or from various triggers). But, of the older people with it activated, there was a significant correlation that they were not coffee drinkers, the study found.
“That something many people drink — and actually like to drink — might have a direct benefit came as a surprise to us… What we’ve shown is a correlation between caffeine consumption and longevity. And we’ve shown more rigorously, in laboratory tests, a very plausible mechanism for why this might be so.” says Mark Davis, PhD, a professor of microbiology and immunology and the director of the Stanford Institute for Immunity, Transplantation and Infection,
Now, to be clear, further studies are needed to definitively prove this is true. Right now, it’s just a decently researched link that warrants further studies (sign me up!). But, I for one, will keep my coffee consumption going because it seems I’m in good and healthy company doing so. If you or any coffee lovers in your life would like a relaxing way to do so, check out our monthly coffee options here.
