18-06-2025
More than 46,000 people observed in a study took their coffee black. Here's what happened to them
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However, coffee may not be beneficial for everyone. 'Individuals drinking more than five cups of coffee per day can have an increased risk of myocardial infarction (heart attack) or unstable angina (heart problem causing sudden chest pain),' according to a 2022 study published in the Journal of Personalized Medicine. Researchers at the National Institutes of Health also noted in a 2021 study that 'pregnant women who consumed the caffeine equivalent of as little as half a cup of coffee a day on average had slightly smaller babies than pregnant women who did not consume caffeinated beverages.'
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One of the limitations of the Tufts' study is that the information used was based on self-reported recall data, which is 'subject to measurement error due to day-to-day variations in food intake.' There was also a lack of significant associations between decaffeinated coffee and all-cause mortality, which could be due to the low consumption among the population studied, per the news release.
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Zhang, who is the Neely Family Professor at the Friedman School, said in an email to National Post on Tuesday that the driving force behind the research was to address concerns about how coffee additions such as sugars and creams 'may counterbalance coffee's health benefits.'
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'Our findings confirm our hypothesis that adding high levels of added sugar and saturated fat make the benefits of coffee consumption lowering mortality risk go away,' she said.
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She added: 'The key take away is that we need to be mindful about the amount of sugars and saturated fat that we add to coffee when we drink it.'
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The study is one of the first to quantify the amount of added sugar and saturated fat in coffee. It concluded: 'Although our findings support the health benefits of coffee consumption, the potential negative effects of adding excessive amounts of sugar or saturated fat to coffee warrant public attention.'