Data from large epidemiological studies can be used to guide decisions about health. There’s a lot of confusion about coffee consumption in terms of health…What does the epidemiological data say?

Crippa et al. (2014) pooled the results from 21 studies that included almost 1 million subjects (997,464 to be exact). As shown below, 4 cups of coffee per day (~32 oz, about 1 Liter) is associated with ~15% reduced risk of death from all causes.

More specifically, what about coffee consumption and risk of death from heart disease and cancer? As shown below, ~3 cups of coffee per day is associated with reduced risk of death from heart disease (CVD). Interestingly, CVD risk increases at coffee consumption >3 cups per day:

What about coffee consumption and cancer risk? As shown below, although the association between coffee and cancer was not statistically significant, it looks like ~3 cups of coffee is associated with reduced cancer risk, whereas risk begins to increase in amounts greater than 3 cups.

I hope this clears up some of the confusion that exists about coffee consumption and health!

If you’re interested, please have a look at my book!

Reference

Crippa A, Discacciati A, Larsson SC, Wolk A, Orsini N. Coffee consumption and mortality from all causes, cardiovascular disease, and cancer: a dose-response meta-analysis. Am J Epidemiol. 2014 Oct 15;180(8):763-75.