Daily 'fountain of youth' drink could lower dementia and diabetes risk

It turns out your daily drink could be doing far more good than you think. And it's good news for millions.

Experts at Which? say that "you may be sipping from the fountain of youth" and not know it. And the drink is simple - coffee.

Hailing the drink as great for our health, sugars and syrups aside, the consumer champions took to TikTok, explaining: "Polyphenols are found in coffee beans. They act as antioxidants to protect cells from damage and reducing inflammation.

"However, it’s worth noting that unfiltered coffee like cafetiere (also known as French press) contains oils that raise cholesterol", but "paper filters help remove these".

The experts cited a study from King’s College London, which found "regular coffee drinkers, specifically those having 2 to 4 cups a day, have longer telomeres than those who don’t - and yes that goes for everyone from the pour over purists to the instant coffee crowd".

According to the National Human Genome Research Institute, a telomere is a repeated DNA section at the end of a chromosome that protects it from damage. Every time a cell divides, telomeres get shorter. When they become too short, the cell can no longer divide properly and eventually dies.

In detail, it explains: "A chromosome is essentially a long, long piece of DNA that has really wrapped up and compacted on itself until it looks like the structure you probably picture when I say chromosome. The problem is that the long piece of DNA has two ends, and they're just hanging out there loose. A lot of things could go wrong if those ends aren't protected.

"They could get cut off, or they could join onto other loose DNA ends, which would be a problem for the cell. Telomeres are how cells protect chromosome ends.

"The telomere itself is a long stretch of a specific short DNA sequence repeated over and over hundreds of times. At the very end of the telomere is a sort of knot not called the 'T-loop', which keeps the chromosome ends from all sticking together. Every time a cell divides, some of those telomere repeats get cut off. So in certain cell types that divide a lot, an enzyme called "telomerase" adds those repeats back so the telomere doesn't get too short."

Talking about them, Which? adds that "shorter telomeres are linked to cellular ageing. Coffee drinkers who consumed within recommended levels are estimated to have a biological age that was five years younger than their chronological age. So as it turns out, a cup of coffee, or three, might do some good".

The benefits don't end there, with the consumer experts noting that drinking coffee "is associated with a lower risk of dementia".

The experts reveal that a study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association found that drinking 2-3 cups of caffeinated coffee per day was linked to an 18% lower risk of dementia. However, consuming more than this did not provide additional protection.

It adds that it may be wise to limit yourself to four or fewer cups, especially if you want a good night’s sleep.

It's not the only study to say so. One study published on the Harvard Gazette said that "evidence from a study of more than 130,000 people suggests that two to three cups of coffee a day can reduce dementia risk and slow cognitive decline".

It adds: "Of the 131,821 participants, 11,033 developed dementia. Both male and female participants with the highest intake of caffeinated coffee had an 18 per cent lower risk of dementia compared with those who reported little or no caffeinated coffee consumption. Caffeinated coffee drinkers also had a lower prevalence of subjective cognitive decline (7.8 per cent versus 9.5 per cent). By some measurements, those who drank caffeinated coffee also showed better performance on objective tests of overall cognitive function."

Discussing more benefits, Which? jokes that while "Lawsonibacter asaccharolyticus" sounds like it could be a dinosaur, it's actually a type of bacteria.

It explains: "This bacterium is 6 to 8 times more abundant in the gut of coffee drinkers than in non-coffee drinkers. A gut with a diverse microbiome is a healthier one - so for better gut health, keep your gut guessing and switch up the origins of your coffee beans to feed the diverse bacteria."

Experts at Zoe, founded by Tim Specror, say the same. It notes: "ZOE’s PREDICT studies found that coffee drinkers tended to have more diversity in their microbiomes. One possible explanation has to do with the soluble fibre and prebiotic properties in coffee that feed beneficial gut bugs."

In a ZOE Science & Nutrition podcast on coffee, Prof. Tim Spector, who is also an expert on the gut microbiome, explained: "It's probably the drink you have regularly that contains the most fibre. There's more fibre in it than a glass of orange juice."

Finally, it notes in an "observational study there’s research to suggest that over the long-term, 3 to 5 cups of black coffee a day can reduce type two diabetes risk by up to 30% - but there’s a catch.

"Caffeine is a stressor so on an empty stomach or after poor sleep, it might raise blood sugar levels in some people. To fix this, drink your coffee after breakfast to keep your insulin steady."