Morning Coffee Drinking More Strongly Linked to Lower Mortality Risk

Over the past few decades we have witnessed research suggesting that drinking up to a few cups of coffee a day can improve heart and overall health, but does the timing of your caffeine habit impact its benefits? It certainly may, according to research in the European Heart Journal. The study—the first to examine the timing of coffee consumption on heart health— found that morning coffee drinkers have a 31% lower risk of dying from heart disease and a 16% lower overall mortality risk than non-coffee drinkers. However, after analyzing data from 40,725 adults who were part of the U.S. National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) between 1999 and 2018 all-day coffee drinkers were shown to have no reduced risk, suggesting that morning is the optimal time of day to drink coffee for your health. Of all the participants, 36% primarily drank coffee before noon, 16% consumed coffee throughout the day and 48% were deemed non-coffee drinkers.

Morning coffee drinkers benefited from the lower risks whether they were classified as moderate drinkers (two to three cups) or heavy drinkers (more than three cups). Moderate drinkers, however, had the strongest benefit (29% lower cardiovascular disease risk). Light morning drinkers (one cup or less) benefited from a smaller decrease in heart disease and mortality risk. These associations remained strong even after researchers accounted for various factors including age, sex, race, income, education, smoking status and pre-existing health conditions. A possible explanation is that consuming coffee in the afternoon or evening may disrupt the circadian rhythms of sympathetic activity and levels of hormones such as melatonin. This, in turn, leads to changes in cardiovascular risk factors such as inflammation and blood pressure. As an observational study, the research cannot provide evidence for causality and more studies are needed in other populations to validate the findings.