More than 4 cups of coffee a day puts younger adults at early death risk

A new study has suggested that drinking more than 28 cups of coffee in a week can increase a person's odds of dying prematurely by 21 percent.

The research by the National Coffee Association also found that the mortality risk was more than 50 percent higher in adults under 55 years old.

Investigators warn that younger people in particular may need to avoid heavy coffee consumption, while no adverse effects were found in heavy coffee drinkers aged over 55.

It was observed that more than 60percent of American adults drink coffee every day, consuming on average just over three cups a day.

A multicenter research team investigated the effect of coffee consumption on death from all causes and deaths from cardiovascular disease in the Aerobics Center Longitudinal Study (ACLS) cohort, with an average follow-up period of 16 years and a relatively large sample size of over 40,000 men and women.

Between 1979 and 1998, nearly 45,000 individuals aged between 20 and 87 years old participated and returned a medical history questionnaire assessing lifestyle habits (including coffee consumption) and personal and family medical history. The investigators examined a total of 43,727 participants (33,900 men and 9,827 women) in their final analysis.

During the 17-year median follow-up period there were 2,512 deaths (men: 87.5 percent; women: 12.5 percent), 32 percemt of these caused by cardiovascular disease. Those who consumed higher amounts of coffee (both men and women) were more likely to smoke and had lower levels of cardiorespiratory fitness.

Younger men had a trend towards higher mortality even at lower consumption, but this became significant at about 28 cups per week where there was a 56percent increase in mortality from all causes. Younger women who consumed more than 28 cups of coffee per week also had a greater than 2-fold higher risk of all-cause mortality than those who did not drink coffee.

The study is published in the journal Mayo Clinic Proceedings.