Study reveals drinking a cup of coffee a day reduces COVID risks

A study conducted by Northwestern University revealed that drinking at least one cup of coffee a day can cut your risk of developing COVID by 10 percent.

Eating just over half a serving of cooked or raw vegetables, except for potatoes, has the same benefits.

However, consuming processed meat by just 0.43 servings a day is enough to heighten your risk of developing COVID-19.

According to Northwestern University associate professor of preventive medicine Marilyn Cornelis, who was part of the research team, she didn't think it was the caffeine that made coffee a “magic slingshot” against COVID but rather the other constituents that make it unique.

As an example, she noted that while tea is often rich in flavonoids, coffee has more polyphenols, such as chlorogenic acid, which is a relatively unique constituent of coffee.

She explained that chlorogenic acid has been implicated in other diseases not related to COVID-19 but might also be driving this relationship.

Cornelis that the relationship indicates the importance of good nutrition in building resistance to serious diseases like COVID.

She emphasized that a person's nutrition impacts immunity and that the immune system plays a key role in an individual's susceptibility and response to infectious diseases, including COVID-19.

Dr. Karen Studer, head of the Loma Linda University’s preventive medicine residency program, agrees, noting that the benefits of a whole-food, plant-based diet, which is mostly fruits and vegetables and grains, protect people from a lot of diseases, and seem to be true for infectious disease such as COVID-19.