Some of us have routines. Every morning, we wake up and go get our warm cup of joe before making our way to work. Sometimes, during dinner, we pour ourselves a glass of wine. Red wine is good for the heart, after all.
But perhaps, in a bid to be more healthy, you’ve decided to cut down on your caffeine or alcohol intake. Reducing caffeine and alcohol is generally a good, healthy practice to indulge in – or is it?
Thanks to a new study coming from the University of California, Irvine (UCI), maybe we shouldn’t be cutting caffeine and alcohol out of our diets.
According to the University of California, Irvine, consuming alcohol and coffee can increase your chances of living past 90 by a statistically considerable amount.
Their study, called the 90+ Study, followed the lives of 1,700 people ranging from 90 to 99 years old since 2003.
Some of the major findings from the study were:
- People who drank moderate amounts of alcohol or coffee lived longer than those who abstained.
- People who were overweight in their 70s lived longer than normal or underweight people did.
- Over 40% of people aged 90 and older suffer from dementia while almost 80% are disabled. Both are more common in women than men.
- About half of people with dementia over age 90 do not have sufficient neuropathology in their brain to explain their cognitive loss.
- People aged 90 and older with an APOE2 gene are less likely to have clinical Alzheimer’s dementia, but are much more likely to have Alzheimer’s neuropathology in their brains.
A “moderate” amount is considered two glasses of beer or wine and two cups of coffee.
So go ahead and reach for that extra glass or cup, because if you do, that extra wine or coffee can decrease your chances of premature death by 18% (alcohol) or by 10% (coffee).
Again, don’t my word for it. Study lead researcher Dr. Claudia Kawas said at an American Association for the Advancement of Science conference in Austin, “I have no explanation for it, but I do firmly believe that modest drinking improves longevity.”
But it’s not just coffee and alcohol enthusiasts that get good news. The study also determined that people who were “overweight in their 70s lived longer than normal or underweight people did”, though the difference was just 3%.
People with a hobby were also 21% less likely to die early, and exercising 15-45 minutes a day shaves 11% off premature death chances.
So the next time someone questions why you are reaching for another glass of wine or another cup of coffee, tell them you’re just making healthy choices. Cheers!
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