New Delhi . A daily cup of tea or coffee can keep your body strong in old age, this has been proven in recent research. Researchers say that if someone drinks coffee and tea in his mid-life (40 to 60 years), then the chances of his body becoming weak in the last years of his life can be reduced. The main reason for this is the caffeine present in tea and coffee. People who drank four cups of coffee a day got the best results, and people who drank black or green tea also saw good results.

What was proved in the research?

The team from the National University of Singapore followed 12,000 people aged 45 to 74 for 20 years. “Coffee and tea are staple beverages in many regions around the world, including Singapore. Our research shows that consuming them in midlife may reduce the risk of physical frailty in later life,” said Koh Voon Puah, a professor in the Healthy Longevity Translational Research Program at the university’s Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine.

Professor Koh Voon Puey further said, ‘However, further research is needed to confirm these findings and to investigate whether these effects on physical weakness are being caused by caffeine or other chemical compounds.’

People with an average age of 53 years were talked to and were asked about their habits of eating and drinking caffeinated drinks like coffee, tea, cold drinks and chocolate.

The people involved in the research, whose average age was 73 years, were asked about their weight and energy level. He also got his handgrip power and Time Up and Go (TUG) tested to find out his strength.

Among 12 thousand people, it was found that more than two-thirds (68.5 percent) drank coffee every day. Of this group, 52.9 percent people drank one cup of coffee a day and 42.2 percent people drank two to three cups of coffee daily and the remaining people drank four or more cups of coffee per day. Tea drinkers were divided into 4 categories based on their tea drinking habit which included never drinkers, drinkers at least once a month, drinkers at least once a week and daily drinkers.

What was found in the research?

The results of the research showed that drinking coffee, black tea or green tea in middle age significantly reduced the chances of physical weakness among those who drank four or more cups of coffee per day. These people were much less likely to be physically weak than those who did not drink coffee daily. People who drank black or green tea daily were much less likely to have physical weakness than those who did not drink tea.

Research published in the Journal of the American Medical Directors Association concluded that regardless of the caffeine source, higher caffeine intake was associated with a lower likelihood of physical frailty.