What's the best time to have coffee? Science says ...

‘There’s nothing sweeter than a cup of bitter coffee’.

Coffee has several health benefits, ranging from improved heart health to longer life.

These benefits, however, could vary depending on when you have your cuppa.

A recent study that was published in the European Heart Journal suggests that it could be beneficial to just drink coffee in the morning.

Let’s take a closer look.

The study

In the United States, almost 40,000 people took part in long-term research that looked at lifestyle, diet, and health.

They discovered two different coffee-drinking patterns: those who drink coffee all day and those who drink it before noon.

It was determined that about 14 per cent of the participants drank coffee all day, while 36 per cent of the participants drank it in the morning.

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For nearly a decade, the research team, which was headed by researchers from Tulane University in the US, monitored study participants.

During the follow-up period, some 4,295 people taking part in the study died.

After considering a number of factors, the researchers found that morning coffee users had a 16 per cent lower risk of premature death than those who did not. Additionally, they had a 31 per cent lower chance of dying from heart problems.

All-day coffee drinkers did not experience a lower risk than those who did not consume any coffee.

Those who drank either caffeinated or decaffeinated coffee in the morning or during the day showed similar results.

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According to the study, individuals who drank coffee in the morning were more likely to drink tea and caffeinated soda but to drink less coffee, both caffeinated and decaffeinated, than those who drank coffee all day.

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The best time to have coffee

According to research, there might be greater benefits to drinking coffee in the morning as opposed to consuming it throughout the day.

Higher coffee intake amounts were “significantly” linked to a lower risk of death, according to the researchers, but only for those who drank coffee in the morning as opposed to those who drank it throughout the day.

“Drinking coffee in the morning may be more strongly associated with a lower risk of mortality than drinking coffee later in the day,” they wrote in the European Heart Journal.

Lead author Dr Lu Qi, from Tulane University in Louisiana, said, “Research so far suggests that drinking coffee doesn’t raise the risk of cardiovascular disease, and it seems to lower the risk of some chronic diseases, such as type 2 diabetes. Given the effects that caffeine has on our bodies, we wanted to see if the time of day when your drink coffee has any impact on heart health. This is the first study testing coffee drinking timing patterns and health outcomes.”

“Our findings indicate that it’s not just whether you drink coffee or how much you drink, but the time of day when you drink coffee that’s important. We don’t typically give advice about timing in our dietary guidance, but perhaps we should be thinking about this in the future.”

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The reason

Why consuming coffee in the morning lowers the chance of death from cardiovascular disease is not explained by the study.

The authors say, “A possible explanation is that consuming coffee in the afternoon or evening may disrupt circadian rhythms and levels of hormones such as melatonin. This, in turn, leads to changes in cardiovascular risk factors such as inflammation and blood pressure.”

Low melatonin levels have been associated with increased risk for cardiovascular disease, oxidative stress, and blood pressure.

“Further studies are needed to validate our findings in other populations, and we need clinical trials to test the potential impact of changing the time of day when people drink coffee.”

In a linked editorial, Professor Thomas Luuscher, from the Royal Brompton and Harefield Hospitals in London, said: “Many all-day drinkers suffer from sleep disturbances. Overall, we must accept the now substantial evidence that coffee drinking, particularly in the morning hours, is likely to be healthy. Thus, drink your coffee, but do so in the morning.”

Vanessa King, a registered dietitian nutritionist and spokesperson for the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics who wasn’t involved in the study, told CNN, “The study was observational, meaning that it wasn’t an experiment setting, (which) is the gold standard,” adding that the findings are “meaningful as the  leading cause of death in America is cardiovascular diseases.”

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Benefits of drinking coffee

Coffee does more than make you feel more energised.

Moderate consumption of coffee may also lower the risk of type 2 diabetes, certain neurodegenerative disorders such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s, and depression.

It also supports heart health, liver health, and weight management.

With inputs from agencies