Coffee's health benefits are well-documented. But what if you take it with sugar?
A study published in July in the Annals of Internal Medicine tackles this question. Namely, do both sweetened and unsweetened coffee lower the risk of death?
The study authors set out to explore the correlation between mortality and drinking coffee three different ways: with sugar, with artificial sweetener, and unsweetened. Pulling data on 171,616 individuals from the U.K. Biobank, a large biomedical database, they selected study participants who did not have cancer or cardiovascular disease at the onset of the study.
Over a seven-year period, the study authors monitored both the coffee consumption and mortality of this group of individuals. Among the group, a total of 3,177 deaths occurred during the study period, including 1,725 related to cancer and 628 related to cardiovascular disease.
Compared to individuals who did not consume coffee, both those who drank unsweetened coffee and those who drank coffee sweetened with sugar had a lower risk of death. The study data did not offer any conclusive results on the mortality risk for people who drank coffee with artificial sweeteners, however. Artificial sweeteners have been linked to adverse effects on health, although this issue was beyond the scope of the study.
The study found that people who drank approximately three cups of unsweetened coffee per day had the lowest risk of mortality. Among those who preferred their coffee sweetened with sugar, individuals who drank two cups per day had the lowest risk.
Like any other study, this new one on coffee intake and reduced risk of mortality is not comprehensive, and caveats apply. The individuals tracked were drinking sweetened coffee with an average of about one teaspoon of sugar. But many popular specialty coffee beverages contain far more sugar than that.
In an editorial, Christina Wee, M.D., M.P.H, deputy editor of Annals of Internal Medicine, pointed out, “Liu and colleagues' study does not quite get at what we really want to know. Is drinking coffee laden with sugar and calories still potentially beneficial, or at least not harmful?”
Though the evidence from this observational study is intriguing, it does not conclusively prove that coffee, sweetened or unsweetened, is the sole reason for coffee drinkers’ lower risk of mortality. Many other factors, such as exercise, could be at play.
Yet, the Annals of Internal Medicine study joins a substantial body of research that supports a link between coffee and longevity. A 2019 study published in the Journal of Human Nutrition and Dietetics reviewed 21 studies related to coffee and mortality risk and found that both caffeinated and decaffeinated coffee have a connection to reduced risk of death. In fact, people who drank three cups per day had a 13% reduced risk of mortality from any cause A multitude of other studies have found promising health benefits, including reduced risk of cancer, diabetes, stroke, and kidney disease.
While more research is needed to definitively map out the relationship between coffee and longevity, it appears that coffee drinkers might be doing themselves a favor when they sip. As Wee wrote in her editorial, “So drink up — but it would be prudent to avoid too many caramel macchiatos while more evidence brews.”