People have been drinking coffee since at least the 15th century, and it's been a staple of the workplace for more than 100 years. Plus, if I had a nickel for every time someone told me they read this newsletter over coffee in the morning… well, I’d have a lot of nickels.

So, how about another recap of some fairly recent scientific research about coffee's health benefits? Sounds good to me.

If you're not drinking coffee yet, these studies might just change your mind.

1. Drinking coffee reduces your risk of death from any cause.

We have to start here: A fascinating British study of 500,000 people found that habitual coffee drinkers were less likely to die than non-coffee drinkers over the 10-year span of the study.

Not just less likely to die of certain causes: less likely to die of anything. As in, they cheat death. Find me a better argument than that!

As for why, it's a bit of a mystery. One theory is that because coffee contains more than 10,000 chemical compounds that protect cells from damage, it might just inhibit many causes of death in ways that scientists haven't isolated yet. 

Related: 

A Spanish study of 20,000 people found that people over age 45 had a 30% lower risk of death for every two additional cups of coffee they drank each day. Once again, that's a lower risk of death from any cause. 

2. It's linked to lower risks of heart disease, stroke, and even suicide.

Another massive study—this one from the Harvard School of Public Health, following 200,000 doctors and nurses over 30 years—linked coffee consumption to lower risk of death from heart disease, stroke, diabetes, neurological diseases, and even suicide.

Drink a cup of coffee a day, and the chance of death from these causes dropped 6%. Drink between three and five cups, and it dropped 15%.  

Separately, researchers examined records of 5,209 people in the Framingham Heart Study, the nation's longest-running epidemiological study, and found a strong correlation between coffee consumption and lower risk of heart disease.

For every additional cup of coffee people drank, their risk of suffering heart failure or stroke went down 8%, compared to non-coffee drinkers. 

Yet another study, this one from South Korea, followed 25,000 individuals and also found that drinking moderate amounts of coffee each day was associated with fewer early warning signs of heart disease. 

In all three studies, the observations were correlative, not causative. But the numbers were huge, and the repetitive nature of the studies is eye-opening.

3. It prompts your body to burn fat.

This one comes from a study at the University of Nottingham in England and was published in the journal Scientific Reports.

Researchers used a thermal imaging system to measure the temperatures of people's necks, which in turn let them figure out how much brown adipose tissue (otherwise known as BAT or brown fat) they were burning.

You guessed it: coffee drinkers were more effective at burning brown fat. The study's authors say they don't know whether it's the caffeine in coffee, or something else, that causes the fat burning. 

"We are currently looking at caffeine supplements to test whether the effect is similar," said Michael Symonds, co-author of the study.

4. It appears to counteract part of the aging process.

This was a smaller study, conducted at Stanford University—just 100 coffee drinkers over several years. But its theory was well-defined and quite intriguing.

It starts with the idea that as people get older, they experience a "fundamental inflammatory mechanism associated with human aging and the chronic diseases that come with it," according to a Stanford statement on the study. 

But drinking coffee, because of its high caffeine content, could counteract the chemical reactions that trigger the inflammation over time, according to the study.

"That something many people drink—and actually like to drink—might have a direct benefit came as a surprise to us," explained study co-author Mark Davis, a professor of microbiology and immunology at Stanford.

5. It may improve brain health and lower risk of age-related cognitive decline.

Yet another study focusing on another one of those 10,000 different chemical compounds found that coffee consumption "does seem to have some correlation to a decreased risk of both Alzheimer's disease and Parkinson's diseases," said Donald Weaver, co-director of the Krembil Brain Institute at the University of Toronto. 

The secret here seems to be connected to chemicals called phenylindanes, which are created during the roasting process. It appears that these chemicals may help stop the buildup of two toxic proteins in the brain, called tau and beta-amyloid, which have been linked to both Alzheimer's and Parkinson's.

"So phenylindanes are a dual inhibitor. Very interesting—we were not expecting that," Weaver told Medical News Today, which reported on the study.

Science never ends

We could keep going. Other studies have suggested drinking coffee helps you do math better, boosts the quality of group conversations, and even improves the quality of your workouts.

As for the optimal amount of coffee to drink each day, a study in the March 2019 edition of The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition says the "tipping point where caffeine started to negatively affect cardiovascular risk" is five cups. 

If we're using between 6 and 8 ounces as the standard cup of coffee (which is less than you think, if you use a normal American mug), that works out to about 35 ounces a day.

Oh, and if you can't bear to drink that much, don't fret.

As my colleague Jessica Stillman over on Inc.com found, even just thinking about coffee gives you part of the benefit: an energy boost that mimics the effects of actually drinking a cup.

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7 other things worth your time

• Coffee prices are going up. (What isn’t?). Also, this seems like a good chance to give you a couple of good throwback Understandably links: namely, the secret way the CIA apparently uses (or used) Starbucks gift cards to communicate with spies, and the memoir of a rather sardonic Civil War prisoner of war, who thoroughly lamented missing hot coffee while a guest in the “notorious hotels” of the South. (Forbes, Understandably)

• Two members of Congress—one Democrat and one Republican—“figured out a way” to fly to Kabul together on a military flight and stayed for 24 hours, saying they wanted to check out the situation for themselves. “It’s as moronic as it is selfish,” a senior administration official said, pointing out that Reps. Seth Moulton (D-Mass.) and Peter Meijer (R-Mich.) then took seats on flights home that would have otherwise gone to evacuees, “so they can have a moment in front of the cameras.” (MSN)

• Charlie Watts, the unassuming son of a truck driver who gained global fame as the drummer for the Rolling Stones, has died. He was 80. The band had recently announced he’d miss the upcoming North American leg of its latest tour, “undergoing a medical procedure for an unknown condition.” (CNN)

• The governor of Hawaii asked tourists not to travel to the vacation destination for the time being, as the number of COVID cases and hospitalizations rises, despite a 62% vaccination rate. (USA Today)

• If you use Gmail, be aware that the spam filters seem to have tightened this week—you may be missing important emails and not know it! (USA Today)

• With the swearing-in of New York’s new governor, Kathy Hochul, there are now 9 female governors in the US, tying a historic record. (AP)

• The Supreme Court on Tuesday rebuffed the Biden administration's effort to halt the reinstatement of a controversial Trump-era immigration measure known as the “Remain in Mexico” policy. More than 60,000 asylum-seekers have been returned to Mexico under the program, a departure from previous practice of allowing those fleeing violence to cross the border and apply for asylum within the US. (The Hill)

Thanks for reading. Photo credit: Pixabay. I’ve written about some of this before at Inc.com. Want to see all my mistakes? Click here.