If you know more about your barista than you do the last person you dated, you might live longer. And science is here to prove it. Yes, your expensive addiction just may be protecting you from some serious old age issues and could actually be helping you live longer.
Scientists from Stanford Medicine found that the chronic inflammatory process that occurs in our golden years may trigger cardiovascular issues that can potentially be subdued by a cup of coffee.
“More than 90 percent of all noncommunicable diseases of aging are associated with chronic inflammation,” said the study’s lead author, David Furman, PhD, a consulting associate professor at the Stanford Institute for Immunity, Transplantation and Infection:
It’s also well-known that caffeine intake is associated with longevity. Many studies have shown this association. We’ve found a possible reason for why this may be so.
Furman’s colleague, Mark Davis, PhD, a professor of microbiology and immunology and the director of the Stanford Institute for Immunity, Transplantation and Infection, says their findings show a correlation between “an underlying inflammatory process” associated with aging and cardiovascular disease as well as “molecular events that we may be able to target and combat.”
And according to the study:
Notably, this inflammatory mechanism was found to be activated only in some, but not all, of the older study participants. Those in whom it was relatively quiescent tended to drink more caffeinated beverages. Laboratory experiments revealed that the mechanism was directly countered by caffeine and associated compounds.
Basically, coffee can help protect you from heart disease and deterioration that often accompany old age.
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The study was published online in Nature Medicine.
