New study finds link between coffee and 'healthy aging' but there's a catch
We’re a world of caffeine addicts, with the coffee-borne molecule being the world’s single-most consumed psychoactive drug.
It peps us up, prevents us from feeling tired, and helps us to focus, and that’s before we consider how delicious a good coffee can be.
For many of us, starting a day without a coffee is near-unthinkable.
While there are risks associated with caffeine overconsumption – the safe limit for a healthy adult is 400mg per day, while it’s 200mg per day for pregnant women and 100mg per day for teenagers – there are also a number of reported health benefits from regular coffee consumption.
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A new study has found that a daily coffee habit has myriad potential health benefits, particularly for women.
The study was presented to the American Society for Nutrition on June 2nd 2025, detailing how around 3,700 women who met the researchers’ criteria for healthy ageing were consuming an average of 315mg of caffeine every day between the ages of 45 and 60.
For the women within that ‘healthy ageing’ bracket, an extra cup of coffee each day yielded a 2 to 5% increased chance of continuing to age well. This topped out at five small cups of coffee per day.
“We found that women who consumed moderate amounts of caffeinated coffee in midlife were more likely to age in good health,” said Sara Mahdavi, an adjunct professor in the University of Toronto’s department of nutritional sciences and the study’s lead author, according to TIME.
“That’s not to say coffee is a cure-all, but for those who already drink and tolerate it well, it appears to be a positive part of a healthy lifestyle.”
It was a massive study, following 47,513 middle-aged female nurses under 60 across three decades. The study hasn’t been peer-reviewed or published as yet.
Starting in 1986, researchers kept tabs on the participants’ diets, including how often they drank coffee, tea, cola drinks, and decaffeinated coffee.
As the research progressed, participants’ were assessed for ‘healthy ageing’: living to age 70 or older; maintaining strong physical, mental and cognitive health; and being free of chronic diseases including type 2 diabetes, strokes, heart disease, cancer, and more.
As of 2016, 3,706 met those criteria, with the commonality between them being their caffeine intake.
Decaffeinated coffee and tea failed to create a significant link to healthy ageing, and caffeinated soda drinks seemed to increase the likelihood of unhealthy ageing.
Mahdavi told the conference that coffee is ‘uniquely rich in bioactive compounds’, with chlorogenic acids and micronutrients contributing to reduced inflammation, improved blood vessel function, and more well-regulated glucose storage and use.
“Cola, on the other hand, lacks these altogether and contains other ingredients that may work against healthy aging,” she said. “Our findings suggest that the observed benefits are specific to caffeinated coffee, not caffeine itself, and not to all caffeinated beverages.”
She added that coffee isn’t a cure-all in and of itself, and that healthy participants also had other commonalities between them.
“Women who aged best were also more likely to eat well, exercise regularly, and avoid smoking—those behaviours matter much more,” she explained.
“Also, more isn’t necessarily better. The clearest benefits were seen with moderate coffee intake—about 2 to 4 cups a day. People who are sensitive to caffeine or have medical reasons to avoid it should still do so.
“But for women in midlife who already drink coffee and feel well doing so, these findings are reassuring.”
Rachael Davis