Maura Losch/Axios

Adults who drank 1.5 to 3.5 cups of coffee daily were less likely to die during a seven-year follow-up period regardless of whether they added sugar, a study found.

Researchers used data from a previous questionnaire to evaluate the associations of consumption of sugar-sweetened, artificially sweetened, and unsweetened coffee with all-cause and cause-specific mortality. In the cohort, 171,616 participants from the U.K. with a mean age of 55.6 years and without known heart disease or cancer at baseline answered questions about diet and health to determine coffee consumption and were followed for seven years…

Compared with those who did not drink coffee, those who drank unsweetened coffee had lower risks for all-cause mortality after adjustment for lifestyle, sociodemographic, and clinical factors…adding 1 teaspoon of sugar resulted in even better numbers.

An accompanying editorial…noted…“Although we cannot definitively conclude that drinking coffee reduces mortality risk, the totality of the evidence does not suggest a need for most coffee drinkers—particularly those who drink it with no or modest amounts of sugar—to eliminate coffee,” the editorial concluded. “So drink up—but it would be prudent to avoid too many caramel macchiatos while more evidence brews.”

Since they didn’t incline towards artificial sweeteners increasing anything unhealthy, I’ll stick with the Truvia brand of Stevia, a natural ingredient I generally add to my 4th and final cuppa, every day. I don’t add sugar because who needs extra calories? Though I admit that 4th cuppa often gets an added teaspoon of pure unsweetened cocoa powder, as well.