Adding sugar and milk weakens the health benefits of coffee.
Adding sugar and milk can significantly weaken the link between coffee consumption and a reduced risk of premature death. This conclusion was reached by scientists who analyzed large data sets on nutrition and mortality among the adult population of the United States. The results of the prospective cohort study were published in the Journal of Nutrition (JN).
The authors used data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) from 1999 to 2018, which were compared with the National Mortality Index. The analysis included information on 46,222 adults over the age of 20. Researchers were interested in how the type of coffee—caffeinated or decaffeinated—and the amount of added sugar and saturated fats affect the risk of death from all causes, as well as from cancer and cardiovascular diseases.
During the observation period of about 9-11 years, more than 7,000 deaths were recorded. The analysis showed that regular coffee consumption was associated with a reduction in overall mortality, especially with the consumption of two to three cups a day. However, this protective effect was not observed in all cases.
The benefits were maintained only for black coffee and beverages with minimal additives—less than 2.5 grams of sugar and less than 1 gram of saturated fat per cup. If more sugar, milk, or cream was added to the coffee, the link to a lower risk of premature death weakened or disappeared. According to the authors, the results indicate that not only coffee itself but also the way it is consumed plays a key role in health.
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