Your morning cup of coffee may start to taste even better after a major government study found that frequent coffee drinkers have a lower risk of dying from a variety of diseases, compared with people who drink little or no coffee. The report, published online in The New England Journal of Medicine on Wednesday, analyzed the coffee-drinking habits of more thatn 400,000 men and women from 50 to 71 years old, making it the largest-ever study of the relationship between coffee consumption   and health. Previous   studies have offered conflicting results on the   benefits, or harm associated with regular coffee consumption. While coffee contains caffeine, which may temporarily increase heart rate and blood pressure in some people, coffee also contains hundreds of unique compounds that may do good to health. Further confusing much of the research into coffee is the fact that many coffee drinkers are also smokers, and it has been difficult to untangle the   health effects of coffee and cigarettes. To learn more, researchers from the National Institutes of Health analyzed diet and health information collected from questionnaires filled out by 229,119 men and 173,141 women, who were members of the American Association of Retired Persons (AARP) between 1995 and 1996. They were followed until 2008, by which point 52,000 had died. As expected, the researchers found that the regular coffee drinkers in the group were also more likely to be smokers. They are more red meat and fewer fruits and vegetables, exercised less and drank more alcohol -- all behaviors associated with poor health. But once the researchers were able to separate the risks, the data showed that the more coffee a person consumed, the less likely he or she was to die from a number of health problems, including diabetes, heart disease, respiratory disease, infections and even injuries and accidents. How will Eric, a regular coffee drinker, probably feel   _   after reading the passage?
Regretful Annoyed Calm Happy