Like the drip coffee flowing through a filter basket or the scoop of soluble coffee granules into a hot mug, biological aging is simply part of daily life.
New research from a team in China suggests that biological aging — a person’s estimated physical age as opposed to chronological age, as measured through clinical biomarkers — may be associated with what kind of coffee people drink.
In the study of nearly 50,000 adults drawn from the UK Biobank, filtered coffee drinking was associated with lower biological age acceleration, while instant coffee drinking was associated with higher biological age acceleration, as compared with people who did not drink coffee.
The findings add a new dimension to the growing body of research on brewing method and health outcomes, while cutting against broad health messaging that treats “coffee” as a single category.
Published July 15 in npj Science of Food, the study is the first to examine the association between coffee brewing type and biological aging specifically, according to the research team at Chongqing Medical University.
Measuring Biological Age
The researchers measured biological aging three ways across 49,414 UK Biobank participants. One was telomere length, the length of the protective caps on the ends of chromosomes in white blood cells, which shorten as the body ages. The other two were composite scores derived from standard blood test results that estimate how old a person’s body functions relative to their chronological age.
Participants reported coffee consumption through repeated diet questionnaires, including whether they drank instant coffee, filtered coffee or other coffee types. Researchers then compared reported coffee habits with the three aging measures, while adjusting for a broad range of other factors.
Results
The results showed a clear divide between filter coffee and instant coffee, with non-coffee-drinkers in the middle.
People drinking more than three cups of filtered coffee per day had biological-age scores roughly 0.9 to 1.1 years “younger” than non-coffee drinkers, depending on the aging measure. People drinking more than three cups of instant coffee per day had scores about 0.17 years “older” on one biological-age acceleration measure, with similar associations reported for other measures.
‘Coffee’ Means Different Things
From a coffee industry perspective, the study pushes against the one-size-fits-all health messaging that often surrounds “coffee.” It also comes at a time when filtered coffee, instant coffee, ready-to-drink coffee, cold brew and coffee with functional claims are all being marketed in different ways to health-conscious consumers.
The study also continues a streak of generally good science news for filtered coffee drinkers, specifically. DCN recently covered another npj Science of Food study linking filtered coffee to lower blood-sugar markers. Recent studies have also suggested that filtered coffee may reduce type 2 diabetes risk, and that paper-filtered coffee does not carry some of the same cafestol-related LDL-cholesterol concern as some other coffee preparations.
The authors of the new study noted numerous limitations, including its observational nature, meaning it cannot prove cause and effect. The analysis also relied on self-reported coffee consumption and broad definitions for the filtered and instant coffee categories.
The study was funded through the Young Elite Scientists Sponsorship Program by the China Association for Science and Technology. The authors declared no competing interests.
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