A study that’s in the news right now claims that people who drink two to three cups of coffee per day live longer than people who avoid coffee.

If we look at death from all causes, people who drank two to three cups of coffee per day had the lowest risk, and that applies whether they were drinking ground, instant, or decaf.

For cardiovascular disease, those drinking one cup a day had the lowest risk, but for arrhythmia (irregular heartbeat), the sweet spot appeared to be four to five cups.

This group of middle-aged British folks may not represent the rest of the world particularly well; and it’s not like people randomly decide how much coffee to drink.

A review published in the BMJ looked at dozens of previous coffee studies and concluded that people who drink coffee have lower risks of cardiovascular diseases, including strokes, some cancers, and some liver and gastrointestinal disorders.

The amount of coffee associated with reduced risk was often in the range of three to four cups per day.

The author of that analysis said that people should not start drinking coffee because of these results, but that if you already drink coffee, it “can be part of a healthy diet.”.

So people who avoid coffee may have different health-related risk factors than people who drink a lot of it, and that’s not necessarily reflected in the study.

Dietary Guidelines only have this to say about coffee consumption for non-pregnant adults: “For healthy adults, the FDA has cited 400 milligrams per day of caffeine as an amount not generally associated with dangerous, negative effects.” (200 milligrams is the recommended limit in pregnancy.).