Drinking a morning coffee, rather than drinking coffee all day, has been linked to lower risks of dying from cardiovascular disease.
A new study has found that morning coffee drinkers have a 16 percent lower death rate overall and a 31 percent lower chance of dying from heart disease.
The study, published this month in the European Heart Journal, was based on data from 40,725 adults who took part in the US National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) between 1999 and 2018.
Research lead, Dr Lu Qi from Tulane University in New Orleans, said the team wanted to determine if the time-of-day people consumed coffee had any impact on their heart health.
“Our findings indicate that it’s not just whether you drink coffee or how much you drink, but the time of day when you drink coffee that’s important,” he said.
“We don’t typically give advice about timing in our dietary guidance, but perhaps we should be thinking about this in the future.”
Dr Lee said the study did not reveal why drinking coffee in the morning reduced the death risk by so much.
“A possible explanation is that consuming coffee in the afternoon or evening may disrupt circadian rhythms and levels of hormones such as melatonin,” he said. “This, in turn, leads to changes in cardiovascular risk factors such as inflammation and blood pressure.”
The study team used data that asked participants about all the food and drink they consumed on at least one day, including whether they drank coffee, how much and when.
Researchers were able to link this information with records of deaths and cause of death over a period of nine to 10 years.
“Compared with people who did not drink coffee, morning coffee drinkers were 16 percent less likely to die of any cause and 31 percent less likely to die of cardiovascular disease,” the study report said.
“However, there was no reduction in risk for all-day coffee drinkers compared to non-coffee drinkers.”
The report said morning coffee drinkers benefitted from the lower risks whether they were moderate drinkers (two to three cups) or heavy drinkers (more than three cups). Light morning drinkers (one cup or less) benefitted from a smaller decrease in risk.
The full report is on the European Society of Cardiology website.
