At long Last Coffee could save your life

That coffee you take every morning on your way to work might be keeping you more than awake. A new study shows it might be keeping you alive! Recently a group of Harvard University Researchers found that people who drink three to five cups of coffee a day had a 15 percent lower risk of early death than people who do not drink coffee.

 And good news, decaf coffee drinkers also saw benefits. Researchers aren't sure why, but they say it may be something in the coffee bean. 

Researchers from Harvard University found that people who regularly drank moderate amounts of coffee daily - less than five cups per day experienced a lower risk of deaths from cardiovascular disease, neurological diseases, Type 2 diabetes and suicide

However, although previous studies have suggested that drinking coffee could protect against cancers such as prostate and liver, the current study did not find lower rates of cancer deaths among java drinkers. 

"There is no evidence of harm of regular consumption in terms of chronic disease risk or mortality, and consistent evidence that consumption of coffee reduces the risk of diabetes and cardiovascular disease," Dr. Frank Hu, senior author of the study, told Reuters Health. "People who are already drinking it should continue to enjoy it, but for people who don't drink it or don't like it, there's no particular reason to start for the sole reason of health."

The findings are based on data from three large ongoing studies: 74,890 women in the Nurses' Health Study; 93,054 women in the Nurses' Health Study 2; and 40,557 men in the Health Professionals Follow-up Study.

In general, people who frequently drank coffee were more likely to smoke and drink alcohol. To separate the effects of coffee from smoking, researchers repeated their analysis among never-smokers, and found that the protective benefits of coffee on deaths became even more evident.

"Regular consumption of coffee can be included as part of a healthy, balanced diet," Hu said. "However, certain populations such as pregnant women and children should be cautious about high caffeine intake from coffee or other beverages."