3 Cups of Coffee a Day May Reduce the Risk of New-Onset Cardiometabolic Multimorbidity

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Research published today indicates consuming moderate amounts of coffee and caffeine regularly may protect people from developing multiple cardiometabolic diseases, including type 2 diabetes, coronary heart disease, and stroke.¹ Caffeine intake may reduce cardiometabolic disease development at nearly all phases.

“Consuming three cups of coffee, or 200-300 mg caffeine, per day might help to reduce the risk of developing cardiometabolic multimorbidity in individuals without any cardiometabolic disease,” said lead author Chaofu Ke, MD, PhD, from the School of Public Health at Suzhou Medical College of Soochow University, in China, in a statement.²

Several epidemiological studies demonstrated the protective effects coffee, tea, and caffeine consumption have on a single cardiometabolic disease.¹ However, the effects of caffeine on the development of cardiometabolic multimorbidity were unknown.

The prevalence of multiple cardiometabolic diseases presents a public health concern, especially with the prevalence expected to grow as the population ages. Studies have found individuals with cardiometabolic multimorbidity have nearly 4 – 7 times greater risk of all-cause mortality and may present greater risks of physical function loss and mental stress.

The new study sought to compare the risk of developing cardiometabolic multimorbidity between people who consumed no caffeine or ≤ 100 mg caffeine a day with people who consumed a moderate amount of caffeine (200 – 300 mg) or coffee (3 drinks) a day.

Ke and colleagues leveraged data from the UK Biobank, a large and detailed longitudinal dietary study with ≥ 500,000 participants aged 37 – 73 years. Participants completed a dietary questionnaire based on a 24-hour dietary recall of the previous day 5 times; those who drank coffee or tea (either green tea or black tea) during 1 dietary recall were considered coffee or tea consumers. They estimated total caffeine intake by considering a cup of coffee and tea to be 75 and 40 mg of caffeine, respectively.

Investigators included 172,315 individuals in the caffeine analyses and 188,091 individuals in the coffee and tea consumption analyses, all of whom did not have cardiometabolic diseases at baseline. The study excluded people who had unclear information on caffeine intake.

The team identified cardiometabolic disease outcomes from self-reported medical conditions, primary care data, linked inpatient hospital data, and death registry records through the UK Biobank. During a median follow-up of 11.68 years, 1311 (0.76%) and 1386 (0.74) participants in the caffeine analyses and coffee and tea analyses, respectively, developed cardiometabolic multimorbidity.

Investigators discovered those who consume a moderate amount of coffee or caffeine had a 48.1% (0.519; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.417 – 0.647) and 40.7% (0.593; 95% CI, 0.499-0.704) reduced risk for developing cardiometabolic multimorbidity, compared to those who consume zero or small amounts of caffeine.

The findings suggest coffee and caffeine intake at all levels were inversely associated with the risk of developing new-onset cardiometabolic multimorbidity in participants without cardiometabolic diseases. Participants who reported moderate coffee or caffeine consumption had the lowest new onset cardiometabolic multimorbidity risk.

Moderate coffee or caffeine consumption was also inversely associated with nearly all developmental stages of cardiometabolic multimorbidity, including traditions from a disease-free state to single cardiometabolic diseases and subsequently to cardiometabolic multimorbidity. The study identified 80 metabolites linked to both coffee, tea, or caffeine take and incident cardiometabolic multimorbidity. Examples of metabolites include lipid components within very low-density lipoprotein, histidine, and glycoprotein acetyls.

“The findings highlight that promoting moderate amounts of coffee or caffeine intake as a dietary habit to healthy people might have far-reaching benefits for the prevention of [cardiometabolic multimorbidity],” Ke said.²

References

1. ^{Lu, X, Zhu, X, Li, G. Habitual Coffee, Tea, and Caffeine Consumption, Circulating Metabolites, and the Risk of Cardiometabolic Multimorbidity. The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism, 2024, 00, 1–11. https://doi.org/10.1210/clinem/dgae552}
2. ^{Moderate coffee and caffeine consumption is associated with lower risk of developing multiple cardiometabolic diseases, new study finds. EurekAlert! September 17, 2024. https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/1057683. Accessed September 16, 2024.}