If you want to live longer, coffee is your answer. Just don't make it a Frappuccino, says personal trainer Emmet Rushe.

A study from the European Society of Cardiology has found that drinking coffee is associated with a lower risk of early death.

The study looked at over 20,000 people over an 18 year period and they suggested that “coffee can be part of a healthy diet in healthy people.”

This is great news for all you coffee drinkers.

Since ‘Friends’ launched in 1994 and brought the idea of coffee dates to the masses, coffee consumption has risen steadily year on year.

Before this, almost every T.V show had their cast members meeting up in bars, so Friends was pretty groundbreaking in changing the format to more comfortable surroundings.

In Ireland, around 75% of us now drink coffee.

Compare that to the 90’s, where Ireland was the tea drinking capital of the world, and you can see that coffee has caught up and has overtaken in some parts of Ireland.

Bobby Kerr, the CEO of Insomnia Coffee has seen a huge rise in coffee consumption since the 90’s.

In an Interview with the Irish Examiner he stated that;

“When I took over as MD at Bewleys in 1992, there were only two types of coffee: black, or white. Only about 3pc of sales were speciality drinks — lattes, cappuccinos etc. Now it’s around 96pc.”

So, the rise in coffee consumption may actually be a good thing for us and our health.

In the study they found that there was a 22% lower risk of all-cause mortality for each two additional cups of coffee per day.

Dr Adela Navarro, a cardiologist at Hospital de Navarra, Pamplona, Spain said:

“In the SUN project we found an inverse association between drinking coffee and the risk of all-cause mortality, particularly in people aged 45 years and above. This may be due to a stronger protective association among older participants. Our findings suggest that drinking four cups of coffee each day can be part of a healthy diet in healthy people.”

The benefits of drinking coffee don’t stop there.

A 20 year study of over 100,000 men and women found that women who drank 3 or more cups of coffee per day were less likely to develop skin cancer than those who don’t.

Coffee also lowers risk of Type 2 diabetes.
Researchers found that people who drink four or more cups of coffee a day reduce their chances of developing Type 2 diabetes by 50 percent.

Coffee has been found to have the highest levels readily available for us.
While many fruits and vegetables are loaded with anti-oxidants it is the body’s ability to absorb these that is more important and we seem to be able to absorb the most from coffee.

Other benefit of coffee range from lowering the risk of Prostate Cancer, Parkinson’s disease and Alzheimer’s. It has been shown to have a positive effect on the liver can help with depression and can even lower the risk of stroke.

Add to this that it is what wakes most of us up in the morning and you have a drink that is pretty special, but I’m a bit biased as I live on the stuff.

One thing we have to make clear though, is that we are talking about coffee here and that is a far cry from what most people drink in coffee houses.

The study looked at Spanish University Graduates and was done in the Mediterranean, where their coffee is usually Espressos and Americanos.

If your coffee consumption involves syrup, whipped cream, and any number of added toppings and sugars, you aren’t really drinking what they were drinking in the study.

Add to this the added calories you will be taking in and the excess sugars and fats and you will probably outweigh any benefit the coffee part will give you.

So, if you want to live longer, be healthier and basically be like Wonder Woman, coffee is your answer.
Just don’t make it a Frappuccino.

#TrainSmart