The Potential Health Benefit of Coffee: Does a Spoonful of Sugar Make It All Go Away?

EditorialsJuly 2022The Potential Health Benefit of Coffee: Does a Spoonful of Sugar Make It All Go Away?Christina C. Wee, MD, MPHChristina C. Wee, MD, MPHDeputy Editor, Annals of Internal Medicine Search for more papers by this authorAuthor, Article, and Disclosure Informationhttps://doi.org/10.7326/M22-1465 SectionsAboutFull TextPDF ToolsAdd to favoritesDownload CitationsTrack CitationsPermissions ShareFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditEmail Coffee is one of the most widely consumed beverages, and there is longstanding interest in understanding its health effects. According to a 2022 estimate, Americans drink 517 million cups of coffee per day, and 66% of Americans surveyed reported drinking coffee within the past day (1). Much of the data to date on coffee's health effects rely on observational studies, and these—including 2 earlier studies published by Annals in 2017 by Gunter and colleagues (2) and Park and colleagues (3)—suggest a U-shaped relationship between coffee consumption and all-cause mortality and other health outcomes; those consuming moderate amounts of coffee daily ...References1. National coffee data trends 2022: media highlights. National Coffee Association. Accessed at www.ncausa.org/Portals/56/PDFs/Communication/20220315_media_highlights.pdf on 6 May 2022. Google Scholar2. Gunter MJ, Murphy N, Cross AJ, et al. Coffee drinking and mortality in 10 European countries. A multinational cohort study. Ann Intern Med. 2017;167:236-247. [PMID: 28693038] doi:10.7326/M16-2945 LinkGoogle Scholar3. Park SY, Freedman ND, Haiman CA, et al. Association of coffee consumption with total and cause-specific mortality among nonwhite populations. Ann Intern Med. 2017;167:228-235. [PMID: 28693036] doi:10.7326/M16-2472 LinkGoogle Scholar4. Nordestgaard AT. Causal relationship from coffee consumption to diseases and mortality: a review of observational and Mendelian randomization studies including cardiometabolic diseases, cancer, gallstones and other diseases. Eur J Nutr. 2022;61:573-587. [PMID: 34319429] doi:10.1007/s00394-021-02650-9 CrossrefMedlineGoogle Scholar5. Daneschvar HL, Smetana GW, Brindamour L, et al. Impact of coffee consumption on physiological markers of cardiovascular risk: a systematic review. Am J Med. 2021;134:626-636.e2. [PMID: 33130125] doi:10.1016/j.amjmed.2020.09.036 CrossrefMedlineGoogle Scholar6. Socala K, Szopa A, Serefko A, et al. Neuroprotective effects of coffee bioactive compounds: a review. Int J Mol Sci. 2020;22. [PMID: 33374338] doi:10.3390/ijms22010107 CrossrefMedlineGoogle Scholar7. Liu D, Li ZH, Shen D, et al. Association of sugar-sweetened, artificially sweetened, and unsweetened coffee consumption with all-cause and cause-specific mortality. A large prospective cohort study. Ann Intern Med. 2022;175:909-17. doi:10.7326/M21-2977 LinkGoogle Scholar8. Malik VS, Hu FB. Sugar-sweetened beverages and cardiometabolic health: an update of the evidence. Nutrients. 2019;11. [PMID: 31398911] doi:10.3390/nu11081840 CrossrefMedlineGoogle Scholar9. Hyppönen E, Zhou A. Cardiovascular symptoms affect the patterns of habitual coffee consumption. Am J Clin Nutr. 2021;114:214-219. [PMID: 33711095] doi:10.1093/ajcn/nqab014 CrossrefMedlineGoogle Scholar10. Hot coffees. Starbucks. Accessed at www.starbucks.com/menu/drinks/hot-coffees on 9 May 2022. Google Scholar Author, Article, and Disclosure InformationAffiliations: Deputy Editor, Annals of Internal Medicine Note: Dr. Wee discloses that she drinks coffee with cream and sugar regularly and enjoys it.Disclosures: Disclosures can be viewed at www.acponline.org/authors/icmje/ConflictOfInterestForms.do?msNum=M22-1465.Corresponding Author: Christina C. Wee, MD, MPH, Annals of Internal Medicine, 190 N. Independence Mall West, Philadelphia, PA 19106; e-mail, [email protected]org.This article was published at Annals.org on 31 May 2022. PreviousarticleNextarticle Advertisement FiguresReferencesRelatedDetailsSee AlsoAssociation of Sugar-Sweetened, Artificially Sweetened, and Unsweetened Coffee Consumption With All-Cause and Cause-Specific Mortality Dan Liu , Zhi-Hao Li , Dong Shen , Pei-Dong Zhang , Wei-Qi Song , Wen-Ting Zhang , Qing-Mei Huang , Pei-Liang Chen , Xi-Ru Zhang , and Chen Mao Metrics Cited byAssociation of Sugar-Sweetened, Artificially Sweetened, and Unsweetened Coffee Consumption With All-Cause and Cause-Specific MortalityDan Liu, MD, Qingmei Huang, MD, Weiqi Song, MD, Zhihao Li, MD, Chen Mao, MD July 2022Volume 175, Issue 7Page: 1035-1036KeywordsBeveragesCaffeineCoffeeSugar sweetened beverages ePublished: 31 May 2022 Issue Published: July 2022 Copyright & PermissionsCopyright © 2022 by American College of Physicians. All Rights Reserved.PDF downloadLoading ...