Coffee Could Be More Than a Morning Pick-Me-Up, According to New Research

A morning cup of coffee may do more than just perk you up, according to new research.

Moderate amounts of caffeine intake — defined as one to three cups of coffee or tea a day — were associated with a lower risk of developing cardiometabolic multimorbidity, said the study’s lead author, Dr. Chaofu Ke, associate professor of epidemiology and biostatistics at Soochow University in Suzhou, China.

Cardiometabolic multimorbidity, or CM, is the coexistence of at least two cardiometabolic diseases such as heart disease, stroke, diabetes and high blood pressure.

“Coffee and caffeine consumption may play an important protective role in almost all phases of CM development,” Ke said.

Researchers analyzed data from more than 360,000 people in the UK Biobank, a large biomedical database and research resource that follows people long-term. Those involved did not have cardiometabolic diseases at the outset.

The information included the participants’ self-reported caffeine consumption through coffee or black or green tea and the cardiometabolic diseases they developed through their primary care data, hospital records and death certificates, according to the study published Tuesday in the Endocrine Society’s Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism.

Moderate caffeine consumers had a reduced risk of new onset cardiometabolic multimorbidity. The risk was reduced by 48.1% if they had one to three cups a day, or 40.7% if they had 200 to 300 milligrams of caffeine daily, compared with people who didn’t drink or drank less than one cup, Ke said.

The study had a large sample size and used multiple biomarkers to support the findings, making it a strong look at how caffeine affects heart health, said Dr. Gregory Marcus, associate chief of cardiology for research and professor of medicine at the University of California, San Francisco. He was not involved in the research.

“These observations add to the growing body of evidence that caffeine, and commonly consumed natural substances that contain caffeine such as tea and coffee, may enhance cardiovascular health,” Marcus said in an email.