2025-11-26 17:03:44
Four cups of coffee a day might add years to a person’s life.
A new study claims that people with severe mental disorders (SMD), including schizophrenia and bipolar disorder, gain the equivalent of five extra biological years if they drink between three and four cups daily.
Published by the British Medical Journal Group, the research centres on telomeres — the tiny caps that sit on the ends of chromosomes and protect DNA from damage.
SMD patients typically have shorter telomeres, contributing to accelerated ageing and a life expectancy roughly 15 years shorter than the general population.
But coffee, it turns out, may slow some of that decline.
The researchers wrote: “Based on an average of 70-base pair reductions per year, this represents five years younger biological age in the coffee-drinking group.”
The team analysed blood samples from 436 patients aged 18 to 65, recruited from psychiatric units across Oslo.
Participants were split into groups: no coffee, 1–2 cups, 3–4 cups and five or more.
Telomere length formed a clear J-shaped curve: those drinking 3–4 cups had the longest telomeres, while heavy drinkers – five or more cups a day – experienced shorter telomeres and increased ageing.
Coffee’s protective effect may be tied to its potent antioxidant compounds, including chlorogenic acid, cafestol, kahweol, trigonelline and melanoidins.
These may help reduce inflammation – a hallmark of many psychiatric disorders – and shield telomeres from oxidative stress.
The authors noted: “Coffee has been noted to contain several bioactive compounds… all of which possess potent antioxidant properties.”
But experts warn not to take the findings as a licence to chain-drink espresso.
Dr. Elizabeth Akam of Loughborough University, who was not involved in the research, cautioned: “Coffee contains many different compounds … and we don’t know which of these were administered, in what doses, or how much actually ended up in the bloodstream.”
She added that self-reported coffee intake makes the evidence a “mixed bag,” and pointed out that caffeine itself has been linked to telomere shortening.
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