Association between coffee consumption and life expectancy: a prospective cohort study from NHANES 2001-2018

To assess the association between coffee consumption and life expectancy among the US adults.

Prospective cohort.

National representative survey in the United States, 2001-2018.

A total of 43 114 participants aged 20 years or older with complete coffee consumption data were included from National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey 2001-2018.

Over a median follow-up of 8·7 years, 6234 total deaths occurred, encompassing 1929 deaths from CVD and 1411 deaths from cancer. Based on the nationally representative survey, we found that coffee consumption is associated with longer life expectancy. The estimated life expectancy at age 50 was 30·06 years (95 % CI, 29·68, 30·44), 30·82 years (30·12, 31·57), 32·08 years (31·52, 32·70), 31·24 years (30·29, 32·19), and 31·45 years (30·39, 32·60) in participants consuming 0, ≤ 1, 1 to ≤ 2, 2 to ≤ 3, and > 3 cups of coffee per day, respectively. Consequently, compared with non-coffee drinkers, participants who consumed 1 to ≤ 2 cups/day had a gain of 2·02 years (1·17, 2·85) in life expectancy on average, attributable to a 0·61-year (29·72 %) reduction in CVD deaths. Similar benefits were found in both males and females.

Our findings suggest that moderate coffee consumption (approximately 2 cups per day) could be recommended as a valuable component of a healthy diet and may be an adjustable effective intervention measure to increase life expectancy.