20 Years of Science confirms the benefits of coffee

Results of a 2o year study

The Independent has reported on a 20 year study where almost 210,000 people were studied since 1976. Dr. Frank Hu joined the team in 1996 where he aided in the organizing of the data collected over the last 20 years. A huge 4.7 million person years of data was collected. Data on this scale meant that it took several generations of scientists to complete the study. Frank Hu asserts that the level of data collected here was necessary and useful due to the complexity of the beverage.
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"Coffee is certainly a very complex beverage, Besides caffeine, it contains hundreds, perhaps thousands, of bioactive compounds. So it's very difficult, perhaps impossible, to tease out the effects of individual compounds or chemicals."
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He goes on to say that coffee's health benefits derive from not just a few of the compounds, but more likely the synergistic effects of many compounds, minerals and antioxidants. Many think of caffeine when they think of coffee yet many of the same benefits can be attained from both regular and decaf coffees. 

The study strongly indicated that regular drinkers of coffee typically lived longer and were less likely to fall to cardiovascular and neurodegenerative diseases and even suicide. Caution was given that not everyone responds the same way to coffee so drink in moderation and keep up with good healthy habits. 
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The Original article - Independent