New research carried out at Northwestern University in Illinois has found that drinking one or more cups of coffee a day could reduce one’s chances of becoming infected with COVID-19, according to the New York Post.
It’s not clear why, but daily coffee-drinkers were found to be 10 percent less likely to show symptoms of the virus than non-drinkers of the brown stuff. Moreover, the more coffee consumed, the lower the risk of contracting COVID-19.
Coffee drinkers who do contract the virus were also found to be less likely to suffer any severe form of the illness.
Researchers analyzed the dietary habits of nearly 40,000 participants ages 40 to 70 in the UK Biobank from 2006 to 2010, specifically tracking their consumption of coffee, tea, processed meat, red meat, fruit, vegetables and oily fish, and incident COVID-19 infection in 2020.
“In the UK Biobank, consumption of coffee, vegetables, and being breastfed as a baby were favorably associated with incident COVID-19; intake of processed meat was adversely associated,” the authors wrote.
“Habitual consumption of one or more cups of coffee per day was associated with about a 10 percent decrease in risk of COVID-19 compared to less than 1 cup per day,” they found.
“Coffee consumption favorably correlates with inflammatory biomarkers. . .which are also associated with COVID-19 severity and mortality,” the authors wrote.
Their findings were published in the article, “Dietary Behaviors and Incident COVID-19 in the UK Biobank” were published in the journal Nutrients. https://www.mdpi.com/2072-6643/13/6/2114/htm
Coffee beans contain both anti-inflammatories and antioxidants, which is believed to contribute to the correlation. Processed meat (ed: sausage, etc.) was linked to increased risk; however, red meat consumption posed no risk.
“Although these findings warrant independent confirmation, adherence to certain dietary behaviors may be an additional tool to existing COVID-19 protection guidelines to limit the spread of this virus,” they wrote.