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A new study suggests that scheduling your daily coffee intake could significantly affect its health benefits.
Researchers have found that enjoying coffee in the morning may have more benefits than spreading your consumption throughout the day.
More than 40,000 adults in the US participated in long-term studies that examined health, nutrition and lifestyle.
They found two distinct patterns of coffee consumption: those who drink coffee before noon and those who drink coffee all day.
More than a third (36%) of those in the study were considered to drink coffee in the morning, while around 14% did so throughout the day.
The research team, led by experts from Tulane University in the United States, followed the people participating in the study for almost a decade.
Some 4,295 people who participated in the study died during the follow-up period.
After taking several factors into account, researchers found that morning coffee drinkers were 16% less likely to die compared to those who didn't drink coffee. And they were 31% less likely to have died from heart disease.
There was no reduced risk for all-day coffee drinkers compared to those who did not drink coffee.
The researchers said higher coffee intake was “significantly” associated with a lower risk of death, but only among people who drank coffee in the morning compared to those who drank coffee all day.
“Drinking coffee in the morning may be more strongly associated with a lower risk of mortality than drinking coffee later in the day,” they wrote in the European Heart Journal.
Lead author Dr Lu Qi, from Tulane University in Louisiana, said: “Research so far suggests that drinking coffee does not increase the risk of cardiovascular disease and appears to reduce the risk of some chronic diseases, such as type 2 diabetes. 2.
“Considering the effects that caffeine has on our bodies, we wanted to see if the time of day you drink coffee has any impact on heart health.”
He added: “This is the first study to test coffee consumption patterns and health outcomes.
“Our findings indicate that what matters is not just whether or how much you drink coffee, but also the time of day you drink coffee. We don't normally give advice on timing in our dietary guide, but perhaps we should think about this in the future.
“This study does not tell us why drinking coffee in the morning reduces the risk of death from cardiovascular disease.
“A possible explanation is that consuming coffee in the afternoon or evening can alter circadian rhythms and the levels of hormones such as melatonin. This, in turn, causes changes in cardiovascular risk factors such as inflammation and blood pressure.
“Further studies are needed to validate our findings in other populations, and we need clinical trials to test the potential impact of changing the time of day people drink coffee.”
In a linked editorial, Professor Thomas Luuscher, of London's Royal Brompton and Harefield hospitals, said that “many all-day drinkers suffer from sleep disturbances.”
He wrote: “Overall, we must accept the now substantial evidence that drinking coffee, particularly in the morning hours, is probably healthy. So, drink your coffee, but do it in the morning.”
Similar findings were seen among those who drank caffeinated coffee or decaffeinated coffee in the morning or during the day.
The researchers said that among coffee drinkers, participants with a morning pattern were more likely to consume tea and caffeinated soft drinks, but consumed less coffee (both caffeinated and decaffeinated) compared to those who drank coffee all day.
