Consuming moderate amounts of coffee and caffeine regularly may offer a protective effect against developing multiple cardiometabolic diseases, including type 2 diabetes, coronary heart disease and stroke, according to new research published in the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism. The paper is titled "Habitual Coffee, Tea and Caffeine Consumption, Circulating Metabolites, and the Risk of Cardiometabolic Multimorbidity."

Researchers found that regular coffee or caffeine intake, especially at moderate levels, was associated with a lower risk of new-onset cardiometabolic multimorbidity (CM), which refers to the coexistence of at least two cardiometabolic diseases.

The prevalence of individuals with multiple cardiometabolic diseases, or CM, is becoming an increasing public health concern as populations age around the world, notes the study.

Coffee and caffeine consumption could play an important protective role in almost all phases of CM development, researchers found.

"Consuming three cups of coffee, or 200–300 mg caffeine, per day might help to reduce the risk of developing cardiometabolic multimorbidity in individuals without any cardiometabolic disease," said the study's lead author Chaofu Ke, M.D., Ph.D., of the Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, School of Public Health at Suzhou Medical College of Soochow University, in Suzhou, China.

The study found that compared with non-consumers or consumers of less than 100mg of caffeine per day, consumers of moderate amounts of coffee (three drinks per day) or caffeine (200–300 mg per day) had the lowest risk for new-onset CM (48.1% and 40.7% reduced risk, respectively).

Ke and his colleagues based their findings on data from the UK Biobank, a large and detailed longitudinal dietary study with over 500,000 participants aged 37–73 years. The study excluded individuals who had ambiguous information on caffeine intake.

The resulting pool of participants included a total of 172,315 individuals who were free of any cardiometabolic diseases at baseline for the analyses of caffeine, and a corresponding 188,091 individuals for the analyses of coffee and tea consumption.

The participants' cardiometabolic diseases outcomes were identified from self-reported medical conditions, primary care data, linked inpatient hospital data and death registry records linked to the UK Biobank.

Coffee and caffeine intake at all levels were inversely associated with the risk of new-onset CM in participants without cardiometabolic diseases. Those who reported moderate coffee or caffeine intake had the lowest risk, the study found. Moderate coffee or caffeine intake was inversely associated with almost all developmental stages of CM.

"The findings highlight that promoting moderate amounts of coffee or caffeine intake as a dietary habit for healthy people might have far-reaching benefits for the prevention of CM," Ke said.

Addressing a research gap

Numerous epidemiological studies have revealed the protective effects of coffee, tea and caffeine consumption on the morbidity of single cardiometabolic diseases. However, the potential effects of these beverages on the development of CM were largely unknown.

The authors reviewed the available research on this topic and found people with a single cardiometabolic disease may have a two-fold higher all-cause mortality risk than those free of any cardiometabolic diseases.

By contrast, the researchers found individuals with CM may have an almost four- to seven-times higher risk of all-cause mortality. The researchers also noted that CM may present higher risks of loss of physical function and mental stress than those with single diseases.