Coffee drinking and mortality in 10 European countries — a multinational cohort study
In plain English
The largest study of coffee and death, following 521,000 adults across ten European countries for over 16 years within the EPIC cohort. People in the highest quartile of coffee intake had 7-12% lower all-cause mortality, with the strongest links to lower digestive and circulatory deaths. A US half-million Multiethnic Cohort reported near-identical results the same year, across every ethnic group studied.
Why it matters
Heavy coffee drinkers had 7-12% lower all-cause mortality across 521,000 Europeans.
Informs: Life Expectancy
Provenance
- Design
- Prospective cohort
- Sample size (n)
- 521,330
- Follow-up
- 16 years
- Peer-reviewed
- Yes
- Replications
- 3
- Funding
- Public / academic
- Funders
- European Commission, national research councils
- Institutions
- International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), Imperial College London
decades.plus score
A transparent 0–100 weighted sum across six components. Higher scores reflect bigger, cleaner, more replicated work.
Caveats
Observational; coffee habits cluster with smoking, diet and income, although the analysis adjusted heavily for these. It shows association, not benefit — and says nothing about high-sugar coffee-shop drinks.
