Those who drink moderate amounts of coffee, even with a little sugar, may face a lower risk of dying than those who don't, according to a recent study.

Regarding the study published Monday in The Annals of Internal Medicine, The New York Times reported, "Those who drank 1.5 to 3.5 cups of coffee per day, even with a teaspoon of sugar, were up to 30 percent less likely to die during the study period than those who didn’t drink coffee. Those who drank unsweetened coffee were 16 to 21 percent less likely to die during the study period, with those drinking about three cups per day having the lowest risk of death when compared with noncoffee drinkers."

The research is based on the data collected from the U.K. Biobank, a large medical database with health information from people across Britain. Researchers analyzed demographic, lifestyle and dietary information collected from more than 170,000 people between the ages of 37 and 73 over a median follow-up period of seven years. The mortality risk remained lower for people who drank both decaffeinated and caffeinated coffee. The data was inconclusive for those who drank coffee with artificial sweeteners.

“It’s huge. There are very few things that reduce your mortality by 30%,” said Dr. Christina Wee, an associate professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School and a deputy editor of the scientific journal where the study was published. Wee edited the study and published a corresponding editorial in the same journal./DS