SerpApi.Org
If you love your morning cup of coffee, we have some good news: some research suggests that fewer than four cups of the drink, especially when consumed black and with no sugar, could actually be good for your health and longevity.
And now, a paper published in the journal NPJ Science of Food has found other factors may affect coffee’s impact on our wellbeing, too.
The study suggested that the choice between filtered and unfiltered coffee might matter more than you think.
Is filtered or instant coffee better for ageing?
This study looked at data from just under 49,500 members of the UK Biobank, a program which makes vast stores of health data available for researchers. The participants’ average age was 56.4.
People whose data were used in this research were given a questionnaire about their food habits, including the amount and types of coffee they consumed.
Researchers also estimated their biological age. A person’s bioloigical age refers to the wear and tear their bodies have undergone on a cellular level, and is different to how many years they’ve been alive (chronological age).
Their biological age was assessed across three markers:
- relative leukocyte telomere length – we’ve written before about what telomeres are, and what they might say about ageing,
- PhenoAge Acceleration, and
- Klemera-Doubal Method Biological Age Acceleration.
Consuming filtered coffee was linked tolower biological age acceleration scores and longer telomeres, which scientists have long suspected mean healthier ageing.
But those who went for instant coffee had higher age-acceleration scores and shorter telomeres.
The study concluded: “Filtered coffee is associated with a reduced risk of biological ageing... in contrast, instant coffee is linked to an accelerated risk of ageing”.
Anything else?
Yes. If you want to get the best out of your Java, as we’ve said before, drinking it black without sugar may help.
Interestingly, taking that first sweet sip of caffeine after breakfast may boost its health benefits further.
Though more research is needed to prove a causal link between the two, this paper suggests you might want to make your drink a filtered one, too.
