Drink coffee in the morning to reap health benefits, says study

The researchers found that morning coffee drinkers were 16% less likely to have died compared with those who drank no coffee. 

Drinking coffee in the morning could bring more health benefits than drinking a few cups throughout the day, according to a new study.

Researchers wanted to assess whether the time of day people drink coffee has any impact on their health.

They studied more than 40,000 adults in the US taking part in long-term studies examining health, nutrition and lifestyle.

They found two distinct patterns of coffee drinking — those who drink coffee before midday and those who drink coffee all day.

More than a third (36%) of those taking part in the study were deemed to be morning coffee drinkers while around 14% were all-day coffee drinkers.

The research team, led by experts from Tulane University in the US, tracked people in the study for almost a decade.

During the follow-up period some 4,295 people taking part in the study died.

Findings

After taking into account various factors, the researchers found that morning coffee drinkers were 16% less likely to have died compared with those who drank no coffee.

And they were 31% less likely to have died from heart disease.

There was no reduction in risk for all-day coffee drinkers compared with those who did not drink any coffee.

The researchers wrote in the European Heart Journal that higher coffee intake amounts were "significantly" associated with a lower risk of death, but only among people who drank coffee in the morning compared with those who drank coffee all day.

Lead author Dr Lu Qi, from Tulane University, said: "Research so far suggests that drinking coffee doesn't raise the risk of cardiovascular disease, and it seems to lower the risk of some chronic diseases, such as type 2 diabetes.

"Given the effects that caffeine has on our bodies, we wanted to see if the time of day when you drink coffee has any impact on 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. We don't typically give advice about timing in our dietary guidance, but perhaps we should be thinking about this in the future."

What's your view on this issue?

You can tell us here

He said the study doesn't tell us why drinking coffee in the morning reduces the risk of death from cardiovascular disease.

"A possible explanation is that consuming coffee in the afternoon or evening may disrupt circadian rhythms and levels of hormones such as melatonin. This, in turn, leads to changes in cardiovascular risk factors such as inflammation and blood pressure."

In a linked editorial, Professor Thomas Luuscher, from the Royal Brompton and Harefield Hospitals in London, said "many all-day drinkers suffer from sleep disturbances".

He wrote: "Overall, we must accept the now substantial evidence that coffee drinking, particularly in the morning hours, is likely to be healthy. Thus, drink your coffee, but do so in the morning."