A young woman samples freshly brewed cappuccino at Bonanza Coffee Roasters on Jan. 24, 2011, in Berlin, Germany. (Photo : Getty Images)
Chinese scientists have recently discovered that caffeine can make people live longer.
The research, published in the The Journals of Gerontology: Series A, revealed that caffeine can prolong the life of worms by 175 years in human equivalent. This publication is released by the Gerontological Society of America.
Caffeine contains a chemical called chlorogenic acid (CGA), which is abundant in coffee, tea and honeysuckle. CGA is the chemical that is responsible for prolonging life.
It is known that caffeine has many health benefits when taken in moderate amounts. Benefits include improving brain performance, speeding up the healing of wounds, and reducing the risk of cancer, as well as Parkinson's and Alzheimer's disease.
Scientists at the Chinese Academy of Sciences' Kunming Institute of Botany conducted an experiment where they injected CGA to round worms. The worm has a similar ageing process as human.
After taking CGA, the worms lived 25 percent longer than those which did not. One worm lived as long as 35 days.
The worm which took CGA looked healthier than the others. It was concluded that CGA helps develop the immune system to fight bacteria.
The paper stated, "Coffee and tea are two of the most popular drinks around the world. The research on these two drinks has been revealing more and more in common from chemical components to their impacts on human health."
This discovery will be a starting point in developing medicines that can help people live healthier as they age.
With the release of the findings, questions on the ill effects of caffeine were raised. In 2012, John Hopkins University reported that caffeine is addictive and can cause sleep deprivation, depression and poor work performance.
