Your daily coffee may be protecting your brain, 43-year study finds
Posted: 18 Mar 2026, 10:22
That daily cup of coffee or tea might be doing more than waking you up—it could be helping protect your brain long-term.
Your morning coffee or tea could be quietly supporting your brain health. A long-term study found that moderate consumption of caffeinated coffee or tea was linked to an 18% lower risk of dementia and better cognitive performance over time. The benefits appeared strongest at 2–3 cups of coffee or 1–2 cups of tea daily—and even held true for people genetically predisposed to dementia.
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Moderate coffee or tea drinking may help protect your brain as you age, lowering dementia risk and slowing cognitive decline. Credit: Shutterstock
A large prospective cohort study conducted by researchers from Mass General Brigham, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, and the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard examined data from 131,821 participants in the Nurses' Health Study (NHS) and Health Professionals Follow-Up Study (HPFS). The findings showed that moderate intake of caffeinated coffee (2-3 cups a day) or tea (1-2 cups a day) was associated with a reduced risk of dementia, slower cognitive decline, and better preservation of cognitive abilities. The study was published in JAMA.
"When searching for possible dementia prevention tools, we thought something as prevalent as coffee may be a promising dietary intervention -- and our unique access to high quality data through studies that has been going on for more than 40 years allowed us to follow through on that idea," said senior author Daniel Wang, MD, ScD, associate scientist with the Channing Division of Network Medicine in the Mass General Brigham Department of Medicine and assistant professor at Harvard Medical School. Wang is also an assistant professor in the Department of Nutrition at Harvard Chan School and an associate member at the Broad Institute. "While our results are encouraging, it's important to remember that the effect size is small and there are lots of important ways to protect cognitive function as we age. Our study suggests that caffeinated coffee or tea consumption can be one piece of that puzzle." READ MORE : https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2 ... 033138.htm
Your morning coffee or tea could be quietly supporting your brain health. A long-term study found that moderate consumption of caffeinated coffee or tea was linked to an 18% lower risk of dementia and better cognitive performance over time. The benefits appeared strongest at 2–3 cups of coffee or 1–2 cups of tea daily—and even held true for people genetically predisposed to dementia.
Share:
Moderate coffee or tea drinking may help protect your brain as you age, lowering dementia risk and slowing cognitive decline. Credit: Shutterstock
A large prospective cohort study conducted by researchers from Mass General Brigham, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, and the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard examined data from 131,821 participants in the Nurses' Health Study (NHS) and Health Professionals Follow-Up Study (HPFS). The findings showed that moderate intake of caffeinated coffee (2-3 cups a day) or tea (1-2 cups a day) was associated with a reduced risk of dementia, slower cognitive decline, and better preservation of cognitive abilities. The study was published in JAMA.
"When searching for possible dementia prevention tools, we thought something as prevalent as coffee may be a promising dietary intervention -- and our unique access to high quality data through studies that has been going on for more than 40 years allowed us to follow through on that idea," said senior author Daniel Wang, MD, ScD, associate scientist with the Channing Division of Network Medicine in the Mass General Brigham Department of Medicine and assistant professor at Harvard Medical School. Wang is also an assistant professor in the Department of Nutrition at Harvard Chan School and an associate member at the Broad Institute. "While our results are encouraging, it's important to remember that the effect size is small and there are lots of important ways to protect cognitive function as we age. Our study suggests that caffeinated coffee or tea consumption can be one piece of that puzzle." READ MORE : https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2 ... 033138.htm