Is Coffee Good For You? Research In 2024 Says Yes—Mostly

This article is part of our larger piece, The Best of Coffee News Club 2024.

Each year, we try to deduce whether coffee is good for us, and each year, the answer is the same: Yes. Mostly. It’s hard to say. Probably?

In 2024, researchers found that coffee could lower the risk of bowel cancer recurrence and may be good for your heart (although a separate study found the opposite, linking coffee to increased risk of cardiovascular disease). Drinking coffee can also supposedly help deskbound workers live longer, which is good news for those of us who write news roundups each week.

Coffee can even apparently help forestall the creep of time, improving muscle function and skeletal muscle mass as we age, reducing the risk of developing Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s, and lowering the risk of dementia in people with high blood pressure. In fact, one study showed that coffee could help you live longer, full stop, potentially adding nearly two years of “healthspan,” or length of time free from disease, to a person’s life.

And it’s not just the beverage, either: Researchers found that the fruit of the coffee cherry might heal wounds, while spent grounds can help remove toxic herbicides from drinking water.

But it wasn’t totally smooth sailing for everyone’s favorite beverage. One study found a link between coffee and an increased risk of stroke; another study showed that relying on caffeine to counteract sleep deprivation can be counterproductive; and drinking coffee was linked to cognitive decline over time.