Coffee Drinkers Might Live Longer

The strength of her current study, she said, includes the large number of participants and long follow-up period.

While the study is interesting, it does have its shortcomings, said Dr. Peter Galier, an internal medicine specialist, former chief of staff at Santa Monica UCLA and Orthopedic Hospital and associate professor of medicine at the University of California Los Angeles' David Geffen School of Medicine.

Self-reporting is one shortcoming, he said, because people may have under- or over-reported their coffee consumption, for instance.

"I think what this study tells us is not so much that coffee is the answer to everything," he said. But, rather, that some compounds, such as the antioxidants found in coffee, may be healthy.

Galier's advice for consumers: "I would tell them to weigh the subjective risk of their coffee consumption," he said. For instance, "if they love coffee, but it makes them jittery, and they can't sleep, the need to adjust it," he said. "Look at your symptoms," he tells patients. "If decaf is no problem, I wouldn't put a limit on that."

The research was funded by grants from the U.S. National Institutes of Health.

More information

There's more on coffee at the American Dietetic Association.

SOURCES: Esther Lopez-Garcia, Ph.D., assistant professor of preventive medicine, Autonoma University of Madrid, Spain; Peter Galier, M.D., internal medicine specialist and former chief of staff, Santa Monica UCLA and Orthopaedic Hospital, Santa Monica, Calif., and associate professor of medicine, University of California, Los Angeles, David Geffen School of Medicine; June 17, 2008Annals of Internal Medicine