Coffee can lower risk of developing MS

Drinking a lot of coffee every day could potentially cut the risk of developing multiple sclerosis (MS), research suggests.

Consuming more than 900ml (30 fluid ounces) — the equivalent of two Grande coffees in Starbucks — may offer up to a 30% reduced risk, experts found.

Researchers from the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, Johns Hopkins University in Maryland and the University of California, Berkeley, looked at two studies.

One in Sweden involved 1,620 adults with MS and a comparison group of 2,788 people without MS. The second was a US study of 1,159 people with MS and 1,172 healthy people.

In both studies, people were asked about their coffee consumption and how long they had been drinking coffee for.

The researchers then estimated coffee intake at and before the start of MS symptoms in those who developed the disease, and compared this with healthy groups.

The results showed that the risk of MS was consistently higher among people who drank fewer cups of coffee every day in both studies, even after taking into account other factors that might influence the results.

In the Swedish study, drinking coffee was linked to a lower risk of MS both at the start of symptoms and five and 10 years beforehand. Among those who drank more than six small cups (more than 900ml) every day, there was a 28% to 30% lower risk compared with non-coffee drinkers.