A cup of instant coffee every day may shorten your lifespan? Don’t worry, I recommend you drink this!

Coffee is a must-have for working people. If you don't drink coffee for a day, you will feel tired. A cup of coffee in hand can not only show your elegant temperament, but also refresh your mind.

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However, the emergence of a new study on coffee recently has made those who drink coffee regularly a little nervous, and they are really worried that drinking coffee will "shorten their lifespan."

What is going on?

01

What does the new research say?

We often hear that drinking coffee in moderation is good for your health and may help slow down aging.

There are also some studies on the impact of drinking coffee on life expectancy. Some previous studies have shown that drinking coffee has no correlation with telomere length, while others have shown that coffee consumption is positively correlated with telomere length.

However, previous studies have been limited by small sample sizes, and they neither categorized coffee types nor explored a causal relationship between coffee consumption and telomere length.

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Recently, Xi'an Jiaotong University published a new study in Nutrients, an internationally renowned journal in the field of nutrition. The study not only had a large sample size, but also differentiated coffee types.

The study involved nearly 470,000 participants, and their coffee intake was collected through a dietary questionnaire;

Including instant coffee and filtered coffee, analyzing the association between coffee intake and telomere length.

After eliminating various confounding factors, the results showed that:

Total coffee intake was negatively correlated with telomere length. For every additional cup of coffee consumed, the equivalent age corresponding to telomere length decreased by 0.13 years.

Instant coffee intake was also negatively correlated with telomere length. For every additional cup of instant coffee intake, the equivalent age corresponding to telomere length decreased by 0.38 years.

However, the association between filtered coffee consumption and telomere length was not statistically significant.[1]

That is, coffee intake, especially instant coffee, may reduce telomere length, while filtered coffee does not.

What are telomeres?

The telomere attrition theory is widely accepted in aging research. Telomeres are a repetitive nucleotide sequence at the end of chromosomes.

The main function is to protect important functional fragments of chromosomes from being lost during replication, while the length of telomeres themselves will continue to shorten as cells divide.

When telomere length becomes very short, it is more likely to cause cell aging and apoptosis. Therefore, increasing telomere length means delaying aging; while shortening telomeres will promote aging and shorten lifespan.

02

Why is instant coffee so "outstanding"?

Coffee beans are roasted, ground, and then extracted and concentrated to produce concentrated coffee liquid, which is then dried to produce coffee extract, the final instant coffee product. [2]

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However, after going through many process steps, the aroma components will be lost. Compared with freshly ground and brewed coffee, the taste and aroma of instant coffee will be slightly worse.

Instant coffee is very popular in the market. It is easily soluble in water, easy to prepare and saves time.

The "my country Coffee Market and Industry Survey and Analysis Report" shows that the current sales of coffee on the market are mainly instant coffee;

In my country, instant coffee accounts for 68% of the total market, with ready-to-drink coffee accounting for 10% and freshly ground coffee accounting for 16%. In particular, new coffee drinkers generally choose instant coffee.

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A new study on coffee by Xi'an Jiaotong University mentioned that instant coffee may have the effect of shortening telomere length and may lead to the occurrence and development of diseases.

As for the reason, more research is needed to determine whether the ingredients in instant coffee will cause the length of telomeres to shorten, but there are already many problems with instant coffee.

More lead than other types of coffee:

Studies have mentioned that although instant coffee contains higher levels of minerals (calcium, magnesium, zinc, iron, manganese, aluminum, chromium and nickel) than the same amount of ground coffee, unfortunately, instant coffee also contains lead and cadmium, with the lead content being higher than cadmium.

The half-life of lead in bones is up to 10 years, and regular intake of foods containing lead may pose a health risk, with strong teratogenic, carcinogenic, mutagenic and embryotoxic effects. [3]

May contain trans fatty acids:

Many instant coffees on the market are flavored with non-dairy creamer. This ingredient contains trans fatty acids. Regular intake will increase the level of "bad cholesterol" in the body and lower the level of "good cholesterol", which is not good for cardiovascular health.

May Contain Added Sugars:

Pure coffee is relatively bitter. In order to improve the taste and make more people accept it, many instant coffees contain added sugar ingredients such as white sugar and corn syrup. Drinking them frequently will increase the risk of obesity, tooth decay, etc.

In addition, some studies have shown that drinking ground coffee can reduce the risk of type 2 diabetes, but drinking instant coffee has the opposite effect.[4]

Women who drink instant coffee have a higher risk of breast cancer than women who do not drink coffee regularly; [5]

High consumption of instant coffee (>6 cups/day) was associated with an increased risk of dementia, whereas moderate consumption of ground coffee was associated with a lower risk of dementia;[6]

So, it seems that the instant coffee in your drawer may not be as healthy as you think.

03

What should we do?

Even so, there is no need for coffee addicts to get rid of coffee. Drinking coffee in moderation has more benefits than disadvantages to health.

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If you like coffee, filtered coffee is the most recommended.

It's not just because of what the Xi'an Jiaotong University study mentioned: there is no causal relationship between filtered coffee intake and telomere length.

Also, if you drink unfiltered coffee, such as Turkish coffee, it contains higher concentrations of cafestol and kahweol, which can increase serum total cholesterol and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (bad cholesterol) levels;

This in turn increases the risk of atherosclerosis and cardiovascular disease.

If conditions are limited and you can only drink instant coffee, then look at the ingredient list when buying and choose pure black coffee with 100% coffee powder.

▲Picture: Ingredients list of a certain brand of pure black coffee powder

Summarize:

Although the mechanism by which instant coffee may cause telomere shortening still needs more research to confirm, at least for now, filtered coffee should be given priority when choosing coffee.

What kind of coffee do you usually like to drink?

References:

[1]Wei Y, Li Z, Lai H, et al. Instant Coffee Is Negatively Associated with Telomere Length: Finding from Observational and Mendelian Randomization Analyses of UK Biobank. Nutrients. 2023;15(6):1354. Published 2023 Mar 10. doi:10.3390/nu15061354

[2] Liu Xinrong, Wang Weiqing, Zhou Yun, Fei Yanan, Jin Lijuan, Xing Zhiqiang. Study on the aroma differences of instant coffee with different processing technologies[J]. Beverage Industry, 2021, 24(06): 15-20.

[3]Winiarska-Mieczan A, Jachimowicz K, Kislova S, Kwiecień M, Zasadna Z, Yanovych D. Cadmium and Lead Concentration in Drinking Instant Coffee, Instant Coffee Drinks and Coffee Substitutes: Safety and Health Risk Assessment. Biol Trace Elem Res. 2023 Jan;201(1):425-434. doi: 10.1007/s12011-022-03129-2. Epub 2022 Jan 25. PMID: 35076867; PMCID: PMC9823080.

[4] Wang

[5]Lee, PMY; Chan, WC; Kwok, CC-H.; Wu, C.; Law, S.-H.; Tsang, K.-H.; Yu, W.-C.; Yeung, Y.-C.; Chang, LDJ; Wong, CKM; 12684.

[6]Zhang, Y.; Yang, H.; Li, S.; et al. Association of Coffee and Genetic Risk with Incident Dementia in Middle-Aged and Elderly Adults. Nutr. Neurosci. 2022, 25, 2359–2368.

Author: Xue Qingxin Member of Chinese Nutrition Society Registered Nutritionist Health Manager Public Nutritionist

Review | Zhong Kai, Director of Kexin Food and Health Information Exchange Center

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