Coffee is healthy!

Larissa Melville completed her traineeship in the editorial team of . After studying biology at Ludwig Maximilians University and the Technical University of Munich, she first got to know digital media online at Focus and then decided to learn medical journalism from scratch.

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For breakfast, after lunch, for cake and of course during the coffee break - many people cannot imagine a life without coffee. The good news: The popular pick-me-up is not only delicious and apparently harmless in normal quantities, it is even beneficial to your health. It even extends life.

This is the result of Dr. Robin Pool and his colleagues from the University of Southhampton in association with the University of Edinburgh. The team evaluated the results of almost 220 coffee studies and meta-analyzes. The ideal amount to drink: three to four cups a day. At this amount, the minimization of the risk for various health problems compared to no coffee was greatest.

Good for the liver, heart and blood vessels

The researchers observed the greatest positive effect of coffee in liver diseases. "Coffee consumption resulted in a 29 percent lower risk of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease, a 27 percent lower risk of liver fibrosis and a 39 percent lower risk of liver cirrhosis," the researchers said. They compared the test subjects with people who did not drink coffee at all.

But it is not only the liver that benefits from the Germans' favorite drink, but also the cardiovascular system: those test subjects who drank three to five cups a day were 15 percent less likely to suffer from cardiovascular disease. The risk of coronary artery disease was reduced by ten and that of stroke by as much as 20 percent.

Coffee protects against cancer and diabetes

But the list of positive effects goes on, because "coffee consumption was also associated with a lower risk of certain types of cancer as well as neurological and metabolic diseases," write the study authors.

Coffee drinkers were less likely to get type 2 diabetes by as much as 30 percent. The cancer risk by at least 18 percent. Coffee consumption had a positive effect on cancer of the prostate, mouth, liver, non-melanoma and melanoma skin cancer, endometrial cancer and leukemia.

The researchers also found a positive association between coffee consumption and Parkinson's, depression and Alzheimer's. Gallstones, kidney stones and gout were also less common among coffee lovers.

Longer life thanks to coffee?

In terms of the study results, the black beans appear to be beneficial for health. Obviously, as a result, coffee drinkers also live longer. The studies found that three cups of coffee a day had the best effect. They reduced the chances of dying within a certain period of time by as much as 17 percent.

Looking at the individual causes of death, the value was increased again: Compared to non-coffee drinkers, the risk of dying from cardiovascular disease for coffee consumers was reduced by 19 percent. The likelihood of passing out of life as a result of a stroke was even reduced by 30 percent.

Coffee - not for pregnant women

According to the researchers, pregnant women should avoid coffee. The children of women who drank a lot of coffee were more likely to have low birth weights. Miscarriages and premature births also increased.

The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) sees it differently: EFSA experts consider 200 milligrams of caffeine spread over the day to be harmless during pregnancy.

Does coffee get on your bones?

The team identified yet another negative effect of coffee: the fracture risk was higher, if only low, among female coffee drinkers.

"Drinking coffee seems safe within the usual consumption pattern, except during pregnancy and in women with an increased risk of fractures," the researchers conclude. But what about more than four or five cups a day? According to the researchers, drinking did not cause permanent damage, but the beneficial effect was less pronounced.

The EFSA has also addressed the question of whether increased coffee consumption is harmful. Their conclusion: 400 milligrams of caffeine per day, which corresponds to about six cups of coffee, are harmless to health for a healthy adult.

More research needed

Since the evaluated studies were predominantly observational studies, the authors advocate further studies with control groups in order to prove the observed relationships between coffee consumption and the negative and positive effects on the body.

Coffee is one of the most popular beverages worldwide. In addition to caffeine, the roasted beans contain over 1000 bioactive substances - including antioxidants, for example. These neutralize free radicals or prevent their formation. The radicals can damage cell organelles and enzymes. In addition to the antioxidant effect, some of these substances presumably also inhibit inflammation, the degeneration of cells and the uncontrolled increase in connective tissue (fibrosis).

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