Good news, caffeine-lovers, there is yet more evidence touting the health benefits of coffee. New research proves (once again) that drinking coffee can reduce your risk of death from all causes. What is particularly interesting about this study is how dramatic that effect is.

Research presented at last week's European Society of Cardiology ESC Congress 2017 meeting looked at the relationship between coffee drinking and mortality in middle-aged Mediterranean adults. They found that those who consumed at least four cups a day had a 64 percent lower risk of all-cause mortality.

"Coffee is one of the most widely consumed beverages around the world," said Dr Adela Navarro, a cardiologist at Hospital de Navarra, Pamplona, Spain, in a statement. "Previous studies have suggested that drinking coffee might be inversely associated with all-cause mortality but this has not been investigated in a Mediterranean country."

Close to 20,000 participants were surveyed as part of the (SUN Project (University of Navarra Follow-Up Study). At the start of the experiment, participants had to fill in a food frequency questionnaire so that researchers could gather information on their coffee consumption, lifestyle and sociodemographic characteristics, anthropometric measurements, and any health conditions. This was then followed up with regular check-ins for an average of 10 years.

Within this time, 337 people – who started off with an average age of 37.7 years – died.

But those who drank four cups of coffee every day were 64 percent less likely to die over the course of the study than those who drank no coffee or very little coffee. For each additional two cups a day, the risk reduced by another 22 percent.

Sex and adherence to the Mediterranian diet had very little impact on the outcome, but it turns out that age does make a difference. The over-45s who drank an extra two cups of coffee per day had a 30 percent lower risk of mortality. It didn't have much of an impact on the younger participants. 

"In the SUN project we found an inverse association between drinking coffee and the risk of all-cause mortality, particularly in people aged 45 years and above. This may be due to a stronger protective association among older participants," said Dr Navarro.

"Our findings suggest that drinking four cups of coffee each day can be part of a healthy diet in healthy people."