A recent study published in BMC Public Health has found that coffee drinkers who sat for more than six hours a day had a 24 percent reduced risk of mortality compared to those who sat for more than six hours and didn’t drink coffee. The lead author of the study, Huimin Zhou, from the Medical College of Soochow University in China, provided this finding in response to a request from The Washington Post.
The original study focused on the relationship between coffee consumption, sedentary behavior, and mortality. Researchers discovered that non-coffee drinkers who sat for six or more hours a day were 58 percent more likely to die of all causes compared to coffee drinkers who sat for less than six hours a day. This highlighted the risks of sedentary behaviors and the potential benefits of coffee consumption.
The data used in the study was collected from over 10,000 subjects between 2007 and 2018 through the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) conducted by the National Center for Health Statistics. Analyzing this data, the researchers found that sitting for more than eight hours a day was associated with a 46 percent higher risk of all-cause mortality and a 79 percent higher risk of cardiovascular disease mortality.
Furthermore, those who consumed more than two cups of coffee per day had a 33 percent reduced risk of all-cause mortality and a 54 percent reduced risk of cardiovascular disease mortality compared to non-coffee drinkers. The researchers concluded that further research is needed to fully understand the potential health benefits of coffee.
This article is part of The Washington Post’s “Big Number” series which explores health issues through statistical lens. Hyperlinks are provided for additional information and relevant research on this topic: [https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2019/11/26/how-much-is-too-much-coffee/.
