zlacker

Is it possible that this phenomenon is specific to people with those mental illnesses? A wider general population study resulted in the inverse effect:

https://www.mdpi.com/2072-6643/15/6/1354

I only did a postgraduate degree, so I don't have the practice reading scientific studies to determine which is true. Maybe someone with more knowledge can chime in?

>>devils+(OP)
No, it affects everybody. Says so in the article. The distinction appears to be that severe mental illness is associated with shortened lifespan so coffee has a more profound anti-aging affect on that population.

>>devils+(OP)
Idk about the op study, but I could imagine confounders with instant coffee consumption.

>>foota+P2
True, and it could also be what the person has with the coffee. I have a feeling people that drink instant coffee are more likely to add milk, creamer, or sugar.

That said, instant coffee is just freeze-dried coffee. There's a possibility its effect is no different.

>>tootie+Q1
Interesting. I wonder if that extends to any stimulant, or if it's something particular with caffeine and coffee.

With that said, the fact that the other study seemed to find the opposite conclusion concerns me.

>>devils+(OP)
Separately from this study, here's an interesting opinion piece by John Ioannidis titled "The Challenge of Reforming Nutritional Epidemiologic Research", published in JAMA 2018:

https://statmodeling.stat.columbia.edu/wp-content/uploads/20...

  > Assuming the meta-analyzed evidence from cohort
  > studies represents life span–long causal associations, for
  > a baseline life expectancy of 80 years, eating 12 hazelnuts
  > daily (1 oz) would prolong life by 12 years (ie, 1 year per
  > hazelnut), drinking 3 cups of coffee daily would achieve
  > a similar gain of 12 extra years, and eating a single man-
  > darin orange daily (80 g) would add 5 years of life. Con-
  > versely, consuming 1 egg daily would reduce life expec-
  > tancy by 6 years, and eating 2 slices of bacon (30 g) daily
  > would shorten life by a decade, an effect worse than
  > smoking. Could these results possibly be true?

via Andrew Gelman's blog: https://statmodeling.stat.columbia.edu/2019/01/26/article-po...

>>devils+(OP)
Studies of larger populations yield more typical results. Consequently, studies of smaller populations yield more extreme results.

That's not to say that these results might not be significant -- what you propose may be the case -- but I'd want to see an actual mechanism of action before buying something like this.

>>devils+(OP)
It's well-known that schizophrenics self-medicate with coffee and nicotine: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schizophrenia_and_tobacco_smok...

The inverse possibility--that nicotine, and perhaps caffeine as well, heighten the risk of psychosis in those genetially predisposed--has also been considered.