Research

Mixed

Consumption of 3-4 cups of coffee per day is associated with the largest reduction in relative risk for all-cause mortality, cardiovascular mortality, and cardiovascular disease compared to non-consumption.

If you drink coffee, 3-4 cups a day appears to offer the greatest protection against early death and heart disease based on current observational data. If you do not drink coffee, this review does not strongly recommend starting, as causation is not proven, but it suggests that moderate consumption is likely safe and potentially beneficial for most adults.

ModerateSupportsMEDIUM confidence
summary estimates indicating largest relative risk reduction at intakes of three to four cups a day versus none, including all cause mortality (relative risk 0.83, 95% confidence interval 0.83 to 0.88), cardiovascular mortality (0.81, 0.72 to 0.90), and cardiovascular disease (0.85, 0.80 to 0.90).
Robin Poole et al. · BMJ · 2017

Why this rating

Evidence is derived from meta-analyses of observational studies, which the authors note is of lower quality and cannot establish causation without RCTs.

Source

Coffee consumption and health: umbrella review of meta-analyses of multiple health outcomes

Robin Poole et al. · BMJ · 2017

DOI 10.1136/bmj.j5024

Meta-analysis · 218 studiesCited 800×
Read the paper
DOI resolved against Crossref · corpus check 2026-06-10

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