Your Beverage Of Choice Could Be Affecting Your Risk Of Dementia
Good news for coffee and tea lovers: your favorite beverages may be doing more for your brain than you realize.
A new UK Biobank study found that daily beverage choices are significantly associated with dementia risk. The research1, published in The Journal of Nutrition, Health and Aging, reveals that while sugar-sweetened and artificially sweetened beverages were linked to increased risk, coffee and tea showed protective associations. Here's what you need to know.
What the research found
Researchers analyzed data from 118,963 dementia-free participants from the UK Biobank, following them for an average of 13.45 years. During that time, 992 cases of all-cause dementia were recorded.
The study didn't just look at individual beverage types, it also modeled what happens when you substitute one drink for another. This substitution analysis offers practical insights into how swapping your daily drinks might impact long-term brain health.
These beverage increased dementia risk
Here's the finding that might give you pause: drinking more than 1 cup (8 ounces) of sugar-sweetened beverages per day was associated with a 61% increased risk of all-cause dementia.
Sugar-sweetened beverages in this study include sodas, sweetened fruit drinks, energy drinks, and sweetened iced teas. In the US, think drinks like Coca-Cola, Pepsi, Sprite, Mountain Dew, Gatorade, and sweetened lemonades or iced teas.
Among people with dyslipidemia, artificially sweetened beverages also came with a significantly increased risk for dementia—50% from one drink per day, and 80% for more than one drink per day. These types of drinks include Diet Coke, Coke Zero, and Diet Pepsi, sugar-free energy drinks, and beverages sweetened with aspartame, sucralose, or stevia, however, the researchers note that lumping all of these different types of sweeteners together is a limitation that "may have obscured potential differences in health effects."
Coffee & tea may offer protection
On the flip side, both coffee and tea consumption were associated with lower dementia risk, and the benefits were dose-dependent.
For coffee:
- Moderate intake (up to 1 cup per day): 37% lower risk
- Higher intake (more than 1 cup per day): 24% lower risk
For tea:
- Moderate intake (up to 1 cup per day): 34% lower risk
- Higher intake (more than 1 cup per day): 26% lower risk
It's worth noting that the study did not specify whether coffee or tea was consumed plain, with milk, or sweetened. That said, since sweetened coffee and tea would likely have been categorized separately as sugar-sweetened or artificially sweetened beverages, the protective associations observed here likely reflect unsweetened varieties.
What about swapping your drinks?
The researchers also modeled what happens when you replace sugar-sweetened or artificially sweetened beverages with coffee or tea. The results were notable:
Swapping sugar-sweetened beverages:
- Sugar-sweetened beverages → Coffee: 23% lower risk
- Sugar-sweetened beverages → Tea: 19% lower risk
Swapping artificially-sweetened beverages:
- Artificially sweetened beverages → Coffee: 15% lower risk
- Artificially sweetened beverages → Tea: 11% lower risk
The key insight here: the type of beverage you choose matters for long-term brain health. Opting for coffee or tea over sugary or artificially sweetened drinks is associated with meaningful risk reduction.
Why this matters for high-risk groups
Perhaps the most encouraging finding? The protective associations were even stronger among people with certain health conditions.
For people with obesity:
- Coffee (moderate intake): 62% lower risk
- Tea (more than 1 cup per day): 52% lower risk
Similar patterns were observed in people with hypertension, depression, and dyslipidemia. This suggests that beverage choices may be particularly impactful for those already managing other health challenges.
The takeaway
Your daily beverage choices are a modifiable factor for brain health and dementia risk.
The practical implications are straightforward:
- Limit sugar-sweetened beverages, especially if you're drinking more than one cup per day
- Reconsider artificially sweetened beverages too, like diet drinks and energy drinks
- Coffee and tea both show protective associations, so if you enjoy them, keep sipping
- Choosing coffee or tea over sugary or artificially sweetened drinks is associated with lower dementia risk
Of course, this is one piece of the puzzle. Dementia risk is influenced by many factors: genetics, physical activity, sleep, social connection, and overall diet all play a role. But when it comes to what's in your cup, the evidence is increasingly clear. Your beverage choices matter.