Coffee drinking for longevity? Timing may be key

Coffee’s beneficial effect on mortality may be time-dependent, with a study showing a strong association between lower mortality risk and coffee consumed in the morning.

In an analysis adjusted for caffeinated and decaffeinated coffee intake amounts, sleep hours, and other confounders, morning coffee drinkers had a 16-percent lower risk of all-cause mortality (hazard ratio [HR], 0.84, 95 percent confidential interval [CI], 0.74–0.95) and 31-percent lower risk of cardiovascular disease-specific mortality (HR, 0.69, 95 percent CI, 0.55–0.87) compared with those who did not drink coffee. This benefit was not observed among people who drank coffee throughout the day. [Eur Heart J 2025;doi:10.1093/eurheartj/ehae871]

The time of day coffee was consumed significantly modified the association between coffee intake amount and all-cause mortality (p=0.031 for interaction). Compared with nonconsumption, both moderate and heavy consumption levels were associated with a lower risk of all-cause mortality among morning coffee drinkers (>1 to 2 cups/day: HR, 0.84, 95 percent CI, 0.73–0.96; >2 to 3 cups/day: HR, 0.72, 95 percent CI, 0.60–0.86; >3 cups/day: 0.79, 95 percent CI, 0.65–0.97; p<0.001 for linear trend).

“This is the first study testing coffee drinking timing patterns and health outcomes. Our findings indicate that it’s not just whether you drink coffee or how much you drink, but the time of day when you drink coffee that’s important,” said senior study author Dr Lu Qi from Tulane University in New Orleans, Louisiana, US. “We don’t typically give advice about timing in our dietary guidance, but perhaps we should be thinking about this in the future.”

According to Qi and colleagues, one possible explanation why drinking coffee in the morning reduces the risk of death from all-cause and cardiovascular disease is that consuming coffee in the afternoon or evening may disrupt circadian rhythms and lead to a reduction in melatonin production at nighttime. Furthermore, coffee’s health benefits are largely mediated by its anti-inflammatory effects. Given that the body’s inflammatory markers exhibit a circadian pattern with peak levels in the morning, a morning-focused coffee consumption pattern may yield greater anti-inflammatory benefits than a pattern spread throughout the day, assuming similar total daily coffee consumption, he explained. [Pharmacol Res 2023;187:106596; Joint Bone Spine 2019;86:327-333]

Morning coffee is healthier

In an accompanying editorial, Dr Thomas Lüscher from the Center for Molecular Cardiology, University of Zurich, Switzerland, concurred with Qi’s reasoning. [Eur Heart J 2025;doi:10.1093/eurheartj/ehae823]

“In the morning hours there is commonly a marked increase in sympathetic activity as we wake up and get out of bed, an effect that fades away during the day and reaches its lowest level during sleep. Thus, it is possible, as the authors point out, that coffee drinking in the afternoon or evening disrupts the circadian rhythm of sympathetic activity,” Lüscher said. [Sleep Med 2002;3:271-273]

“The documented anti-inflammatory effects of coffee drinking therefore might be important as well… It is of interest that the circadian pattern of inflammation is reflected by higher plasma levels of C-reactive protein in the morning which may further contribute the pronounced benefits of morning compared with all day or late afternoon and evening coffee drinking,” he added. [Pharmacol Res 2023;187:106596; Tex Heart Inst J 2010;37:42-48]

Lüscher also emphasized the potential role of coffee in mitigating the harmful effects of stress and the importance of avoiding late-day coffee consumption to ensure adequate sleep. [Eur Heart J 2024;45:1613-1630; Eur Heart J 2011;32:1484-1492]

As the study was observational, and “it is unlikely that we will see a large, randomized trial over prolonged periods of time. Overall, we must accept the now substantial evidence that coffee drinking, particularly in the morning hours, is likely to be healthy. Thus, drink your coffee, but do so in the morning,” he said.

The study included 40,725 adults from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) 1999–2018 and 1,463 adults from the Women’s and Men’s Lifestyle Validation Study (WMLVS). In NHANES, 36 percent were morning coffee drinkers, 16 percent drank coffee throughout the day, and 48 percent were nondrinkers. The corresponding percentages in WMLVS were 61.2 percent, 19.0 percent, and 19.8 percent. A total of 4,295 all-cause deaths, 1,268 cardiovascular disease deaths, and 934 cancer deaths were documented over a median follow-up of 9.8 years.