Consumption of coffee and tea with all-cause and cause-specific mortality: a prospective cohort study

BACKGROUND: Previous studies suggested that moderate coffee and tea consumption are associated with lower risk of mortality. However, the association between the combination of coffee and tea consumption with the risk of mortality remains unclear. This study aimed to evaluate the separate and combined associations of coffee and tea consumption with all-cause and cause-specific mortality. METHODS: This prospective cohort study included 498,158 participants (37–73 years) from the UK Biobank between 2006 and 2010. Coffee and tea consumption were assessed at baseline using a self-reported questionnaire. All-cause and cause-specific mortalities, including cardiovascular disease (CVD), respiratory disease, and digestive disease mortality, were obtained from the national death registries. Cox regression analyses were conducted to estimate hazard ratios (HRs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs). RESULTS: After a median follow-up of 12.1 years, 34,699 deaths were identified. The associations of coffee and tea consumption with all-cause and cause-specific mortality attributable to CVD, respiratory disease, and digestive disease were nonlinear (all P nonlinear < 0.001). The association between separate coffee consumption and the risk of all-cause mortality was J-shaped, whereas that of separate tea consumption was reverse J-shaped. Drinking one cup of coffee or three cups of tea per day seemed to link with the lowest risk of mortality. In joint analyses, compared to neither coffee nor tea consumption, the combination of < 1–2 cups/day of coffee and 2–4 cups/day of tea had lower mortality risks for all-cause (HR, 0.78; 95% CI: 0.73–0.85), CVD (HR, 0.76; 95% CI: 0.64–0.91), and respiratory disease (HR, 0.69; 95% CI: 0.57–0.83) mortality. Nevertheless, the lowest HR (95% CI) of drinking both < 1–2 cup/day of coffee and ≥ 5 cups/day of tea for digestive disease mortality was 0.42 (0.34–0.53). CONCLUSIONS: In this large prospective study, separate and combined coffee and tea consumption were inversely associated with all-cause and cause-specific mortality. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12916-022-02636-2.