Acute kidney injury is defined as a sudden episode of kidney failure or kidney damage that occurs within a few hours or days leading to poor kidney function of filtration, and thus build up of waste products that cannot be excreted by the renal-urinary system. There are many causes from decrease blood profusion to kidney or direct damage to the kidneys themselves.

Utilizing data fromt he Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities Study, an ongoing survey of cardiovascular disease in the US, researchers from John Hopkins University School of Medicine, found that drinking coffee once a day reduced their risk of experiencing acute kidney injury by 15% on average. The researchers reviewed 14,207 participants from the study recruited from 1987 to 1989, at the time an average age of 54 years old. The participants were surveyed seven times over 24 years to the number of 8-ounces of coffee they consumed per day. After adjusting the data for comorbidities, the risks of developing kidney injury was 11% lower than those who did not drink coffee. They also found the sweet spot is two to three cups of coffee per day at up to 23% lower risk of developing kidney injury.

Researchers did not disclose the exact mechanism of the phenomenon but likened it to the caffeine and/or the other healthy promoting compounds in the coffee.

So drink up and enjoy that morning cup of joe. Obviously don’t use any nasty dairy milk or dump piles of sugar in it. Also, stay classy, those disgusting Keurig cups aren’t coffee either.

KL Tommerdahl et al. Coffee consumption may mitigate the risk for acute kidney injury: results from the atherosclerosis risk in communities study. Kidney International Reports. DOI: 10.1016/j.ekir.2022.04.091