New research from a team at Chongqing Medical University in China suggests the type of coffee consumed may be associated with the rate of a person's biological aging. The study, published in the journal npj Science of Food, analyzed data from nearly 50,000 adults in the UK Biobank and found opposing associations for filtered and instant coffee consumption when compared to non-coffee drinkers.
Researchers measured biological age using three different methods: telomere length and two composite scores based on blood test biomarkers. According to their analysis, consuming more than three cups of filtered coffee per day was associated with biological age scores that were 0.9 to 1.1 years younger than non-drinkers. Conversely, drinking more than three cups of instant coffee daily was linked to a biological age that was approximately 0.17 years older on one key measure.
For the coffee industry, these findings underscore that brewing methods can lead to different health associations, challenging the idea of "coffee" as a single product category. While the study is observational and cannot prove causation, it adds to a growing body of research highlighting the potential benefits of paper-filtered coffee preparations. The authors acknowledged limitations, including reliance on self-reported consumption data and broad definitions for coffee types.