The popular drink that ‘helps women age better’ – but it’s a fine line between age-defying and damaging, warn experts

SIPPING on a popular drink daily may help women age better, a new study suggests.

Researchers found that women who enjoy three small cups of coffee a day in middle age stay sharp, strong and mentally well as they get older.

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But downing more than that on the daily may not be healthy for some, they warned - and not all sources of caffeine offer benefits.

Meanwhile, tea and decaffeinated coffee didn't show the same protective benefits as regular caffeinated brews.

And colas were "strongly associated" with less healthy ageing, the study - which followed thousands of women for 30 years - also found.

Study author Dr Sara Mahdavi said: "While past studies have linked coffee to individual health outcomes, our study is the first to assess coffee's impact across multiple domains of ageing over three decades.

"The findings suggest that caffeinated coffee - not tea or decaf - may uniquely support ageing trajectories that preserve both mental and physical function."

Dr Mahdavi, a post-doctoral fellow at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health in the US, and an adjunct professor at the University of Toronto, Canada, said: "Our study has several key strengths.

"In addition to the large sample size and 30 years of follow-up, we assessed several different aspects of longevity and healthy ageing as well as very comprehensive information on nutritional and lifestyle habits that were collected every four years after the initiation of the study."

Dr Mahdavi presented the study's findings at the annual meeting of the American Society for Nutrition in Orlando, Florida.

The study included 47,513 women whose dietary and health data was collected over a 30 years from 1984.

Researchers used questionnaires to assess how much caffeine the women consumed through drinks such as coffee, tea, cola and decaffeinated coffee.

They defined healthy ageing as living to the age of 70 or older, being free from 11 major chronic diseases, maintaining physical function, having good mental health, and showing no cognitive impairment or memory complaints.

After 30 years, the research team estimated how much every 80mg of caffeine - equivalent to a single espresso shot - study participants consumed per day changed their likelihood of healthy ageing.

They also looked into how specific drinks - such as an eight-ounce cup of coffee, tea or decaffeinated coffee, or a 12-ounce glass of cola - might affect ageing.

The analysis accounted for other factors that might influence healthy ageing, including body weight, smoking, alcohol use, exercise, education level and the amount of protein eaten.

By 2016, 3,706 of the women in the study met all the requirements to be deemed healthy agers.

These women typically consumed an average of 315 mg of caffeine per day - about the amount in three small cups of coffee or 1.5 large cups - during middle age, from the ages of 45 to 60.

More than 80 per cent of that caffeine came from regular coffee consumption.

For women in the healthy agers group, each extra cup of coffee per day was tied to a 2 to 5 per cent higher chance of doing well later in life.

Women saw benefits from up to five small cups per day, or about 2.5 large cups.

The research team didn't find any significant links between drinking decaffeinated coffee or tea and an increased likelihood of healthy ageing.

And each additional small glass of fizzy pop - another major source of caffeine - was associated with a 20 to 26 per cent lower likelihood of healthy ageing.

The researchers say the findings indicate that not all sources of caffeine offer health benefits.

Dr Mahdavi said: "These results, while preliminary, suggest that small, consistent habits can shape long-term health.

"Moderate coffee intake may offer some protective benefits when combined with other healthy behaviours such as regular exercise, a healthy diet and avoiding smoking.

"While this study adds to prior evidence suggesting coffee intake may be linked with healthy ageing, the benefits from coffee are relatively modest compared to the impact of overall healthy lifestyle habits and warrant further investigation."

The researchers note that, in general, up to two cups of coffee per day should be safe and potentially beneficial for most people.

Beyond that, drinking more may offer additional benefits for some - but may not be healthy for others.

Dr Mahdavi and her colleagues have shown in a previous study that genetic variations can influence the relationship between caffeine intake and health outcomes.

This means that more caffeine isn't always better - particularly for people with lower caffeine tolerance or specific genetic susceptibility.

The team now plan to investigate how specific bioactive compounds in coffee interact with genetic and metabolic ageing markers, especially in women.

Understanding those mechanisms could help develop personalised diets that support healthy ageing, they said.