Study of 43,114 US adults: coffee linked to longer life expectancy at age 50

What the study found

Points to benefit

6234 deaths. Life expectancy at age 50 was 30·06 years for non-drinkers and 32·08 years for 1 to 2 cups a day, a gain of 2·02 years (1·17, 2·85).

The study at a glance

Type of study

Population study: followed a group

Who or what was studied

43,114 people · US adults aged 20 and older

What was tested

Cups of coffee a day, from 0 to over 3, followed a median 8·7 years

What it measured

The question itself: death from any cause

Who has a stake

No stake declared
No conflicts of interest reported.

Journal

Public health nutrition, 2025

Source

PubMed record 40842371. This page is based on the abstract only.

How much this study counts

• –Shows a link, not a cause: people chose their own habits, and other differences between them may explain the result.
• ✓Followed people over time, so habits were recorded before the outcome happened.
• ✓Large: 43,114 people.
• ✓Measured the question itself: death from any cause.
• ✓No competing interests declared.
• •Summarized from the PubMed abstract only. The full paper may hold details the abstract leaves out.

✓ Strength– Limit• Note

These points come from fixed rules about the type of study, its size and length, what it measured, and who has a stake. Every study on Digestery gets the same rules.

How it fits with the other research

Of the other 6 papers on the same step: 5 benefit, 1 no difference. This one found benefit. It agrees with most of them.

• Quoted in “What we found”: In 43 114 US adults, people drinking 1 to 2 cups a day had an estimated life expectancy at age 50 that was 2·02 years longer than non-drinkers'.
• Part of the finding “More cups did not keep lowering risk”.
• Marked as a key paper in the research timeline: Study turns the coffee link into life expectancy.
• Open item for a person: Zhou 2025 and Yan 2025 both use US NHANES data (1999-2018 and 2001-2018); people likely overlap, so not independent evidence.
• Open item for a person: Yan 2025 reports modelled life expectancy, not hazard ratios; its 2·02-year gain depends on the paper's methods.

Other papers on the same step

• Study of 46,222 adults: coffee linked to lower death risk, only black or low-sugar
  Population study: followed a group2025Points to benefit
• Study of Swiss adults with irregular heartbeat: daily coffee linked to fewer heart events
  Population study: followed a group2024Points to benefit
• Study of 15,486 health workers with diabetes: more coffee linked to lower death risk
  Population study: followed a group2023Points to benefit
• Study that followed 171,616 UK Biobank adults: unsweetened coffee linked to lower death risk
  Population study: followed a group2022Points to benefit
• Study that followed 90,317 US adults: coffee drinking linked to lower risk of death
  Population study: followed a group2015Points to benefit
• Study of 10,064 people with high blood pressure: no clear caffeine link to death
  Population study: followed a group1988No difference

How this page was made

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