How much coffee should you drink in a day? The more the merrier, studies suggest

Good news for coffee lovers as you have science in your corner. A recent study has indicated that drinking up to six cups of your brewed favorite can lower the risk of developing multiple sclerosis, while another found that drinking up to five cups a day could even be linked to a prolonged life, reports RT. 

In a recent study published by the Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery and Psychiatry, a team of researchers from Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, Johns Hopkins University in Maryland and the University of California, Berkeley pooled their efforts to determine the effect coffee has on people who suffer from multiple sclerosis, an autoimmune disease that affects the nerve cells.

The study, which was done simultaneously in Sweden and the US, looked at sufferers of the disease as well as healthy participants who were interviewed about their maximum coffee intake. The data was compared with the estimated consumption before the onset of MS among sufferers. These were later compared to the data derived from the healthy subjects.

Based on the results, the risk for developing MS was higher among those who drank fewer cups of coffee as compared to those who drank more.

"High consumption of coffee may decrease the risk of developing MS. Caffeine, one component of coffee, has neuroprotective properties, and has been shown to suppress the production of proinflammatory cytokines, which may be mechanisms underlying the observed association, " the study concluded.

It also reported a 26-31 per cent lower risk of MS among subjects who drank six cups of coffee before the onset of symptoms, compared to their non-coffee drinking counterparts.

Meanwhile, a 2015 study conducted by Harvard TH Chan School of Public Health indicated that drinking up to five cups of coffee a day can help you live longer by minimizing the risk of cardiovascular disease, neurological diseases such as Parkinson's, and type 2 diabetes. Higher coffee consumption was also found to have a negative impact on suicidal tendencies.

"Bioactive compounds in coffee reduce insulin resistance and systematic inflammation. That could explain some of our findings. However, more studies are needed to investigate the biological mechanisms producing these effect, " PhD student Ming Ding, who headed the research explained.