Unsweetened, Sugar-Sweetened Coffee Intake Linked to Mortality

TUESDAY, May 31, 2022 (HealthDay News) -- Moderate consumption of unsweetened and sugar-sweetened coffee is associated with a reduced risk for mortality, according to a study published online May 31 in the Annals of Internal Medicine.

Dan Liu, M.D., from the Southern Medical University in Guangzhou, China, and colleagues examined the associations of consumption of sugar-sweetened, artificially sweetened, and unsweetened coffee with all-cause and cause-specific mortality in a prospective cohort study involving 171,616 participants without cardiovascular disease (CVD) or cancer at baseline.

The researchers identified 3,177 deaths during a median follow-up of 7.0 years. U-shaped associations were identified for unsweetened coffee, sugar-sweetened coffee, and artificially sweetened coffee with mortality. After adjustment for lifestyle, sociodemographic, and clinical factors, compared with nonconsumers, consumers of unsweetened coffee had lower risks for all-cause mortality, with hazard ratios of 0.79, 0.84, 0.71, 0.71, and 0.77 for >0 to 1.5, >1.5 to 2.5, >2.5 to 3.5, >3.5 to 4.5, and >4.5 drinks/day, respectively; the associations between all-cause mortality risk and consumption of sugar-sweetened coffee varied by the amount consumed. A less consistent association was seen between artificially sweetened coffee and mortality. The association was largely consistent for coffee drinking with mortality from cancer and CVD. For instant, ground, and decaffeinated coffee, U-shaped associations were also observed.

"Moderate consumption of unsweetened coffee and that of sugar-sweetened coffee were associated with similar reductions in risk for all-cause, cancer-related, and CVD-related mortality," the authors write. "These novel findings are of clinical and public health relevance."

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