MedWire News: People who drink a lot of coffee may have a lower risk of dying from cardiovascular disease than those who drink coffee less often or not at all, study results suggest.

"Coffee consumption has been linked to various beneficial and detrimental health effects, but data on its relation with mortality are sparse," explain Dr Esther Lopez-Garcia, from Universidad Autónoma de Madrid in Spain, and colleagues.

To address this, the team examined death rates due to cardiovascular disease, cancer and all causes among 41,736 men and 86,214 women who participated in two long-term health studies.

The participants' coffee consumption was assessed at regular intervals over the course of the studies.

In total, 6888 men and 11,095 women died from cardiovascular disease, cancer or other causes during each study's monitoring period.

Analysis revealed that men who drank six or more cups of caffeinated or decaffeinated coffee a day were 20% less likely to die over the monitoring period, which lasted for 18 years, than those who drank less than one cup of coffee a day.

Similarly, women who drank at least six or more cups of caffeinated or decaffeinated coffee a day were 17% less likely to die over the monitoring period, which lasted for 24 years, than those who rarely drank coffee.

The findings remained true after accounting for risk factors, such as body mass index, smoking and diet, notes the team.

The reduced risk of death among coffee drinkers was mainly due to lower death rates from cardiovascular disease among this group. Coffee drinking was not associated with a reduced risk of dying from cancer.

Dr Lopez-Garcia and team conclude: "We did not find a detrimental effect of coffee consumption on mortality. On the contrary, our results showed a modest inverse association between coffee and all-cause mortality in both men and women. This association was mainly explained by a reduction in cardiovascular disease deaths.

"Our data also suggest that this association was due to components in coffee other than caffeine."

They add: "The possibility of a modest benefit of coffee consumption on all-cause and cardiovascular disease mortality needs to be further investigated."

The research is published in the Annals of Internal Medicine.