Is there a link between drinking coffee and living longer? A recent analysis of study data suggests that there is. Analyzing study data, researchers found that during an 18-year period, the relative risk of death decreased among study subjects in direct proportion to the amount of coffee they drank.

The coffee consumption was self-reported among the 41,736 men and 86,214 women in the Nurse's Health Study and the Health Professionals Follow-up Study. Researchers divided subjects into six categories ranging from less than one cup per month to more than six cups per day. They found that the relative risk of death from all causes decreased in proportion to higher coffee intake. The decrease in deaths was primarily due to fewer cardiovascular deaths.