A plethora of beverages claim to offer long-term youth, but the ones you’ll likely be most intrigued to try are the ones made popular by marketing, not results. The ones that really work are boring, commonplace, and oftentimes much cheaper than the ones that require you to pay upwards of five dollars per serving and come in pretty packaging.
We dug through the research to find the ones that truly offer anti-aging benefits and the ones you can skip so that you don’t waste your precious time and money on gimmicks that offer a lot without any chance of delivering.
What “anti-aging” can actually mean in a study
When you hear the term anti-aging, you may be thinking about how you look. But it’s so much more than that, especially when studies and real research are involved. Anti-aging benefits can range from mortality risk and chronic disease risk to biological age markers.
So, we aren’t focusing on the typical anti-aging promise of looking the same as you did in your younger years, but on what matters more, how you feel inside and how many quality years you’ll get to have in this life.
The supported drinks
Water
Water is life, and research backs that up. For example, one cohort analysis followed 15,752 adults aged 45 to 66 and found that those whose blood sodium ran higher, which the researchers used as a stand-in for drinking less water, showed more signs of aging. Nobody in the study was restricted from drinking; the water-restriction work was done in mice. Serum sodium also moves with illness and medication, and the NIH is explicit that these findings do not prove cause and effect.
They measured the results using serum sodium, a hydration marker that shows how balanced the fluids in your body are, and found that those with higher serum concentrations (worse hydration levels) had an increased risk of chronic disease and dying earlier, and had an older biological age than their chronological age.
Coffee
If you’re a coffee lover, you might be happy to hear that your daily cup of joe is associated with slower biological aging. A UK Biobank study examined 49,414 people and measured aging based on three factors: how quickly specific cells aged, how old organs look and function, and how similar a participant’s certain biomarkers were to those of people with a statistical risk of earlier mortality.
It found that drinking filtered coffee, specifically, was associated with a reduced risk of biological aging. That said, they also looked at instant coffee and found the opposite was true.
The NIH-AARP Diet and Health Study pointed in a similar direction, though it measured deaths rather than biological aging and predates the Biobank work, so it cannot confirm it, this time in over 400,000 people aged 50 to 71. They looked at coffee consumption over 14 years and found that drinking three to five cups of coffee per day reduced the risk of death by 10 to 15% compared with people who didn’t drink coffee at all. It also confirmed a reduction in chronic disease risk.
It’s worth noting, though, that added sugar and whiteners such as cream could reduce these effects, and if you experience sleep issues or anxiety, drinking that much coffee per day could be detrimental.
Green Tea
Green tea may be a powerhouse for anti-aging benefits because of catechins, mainly EGCG, which act as antioxidants and anti-inflammatories. A cohort study of 1,305 participants aged 60 to 85 found that drinking green tea multiple times a day could reduce the risk of cognitive decline by 28 to 30% in older adults.
Another study out of Japan looked at 1,693 participants aged 40-89 and found that for every 100ml of green tea a participant drank per day, they experienced a 5% reduction in the shrinking of the area of the brain responsible for memory, otherwise known as brain atrophy. Because brain atrophy is strongly linked to chronic inflammation, it is thought that the antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties of green tea may have contributed to the results.
It’s worth noting that the results showed more significant reductions in brain shrinkage in participants over 65 and in women than in men.
Cocoa
Cocoa flavanols may lower the risk of dying from cardiovascular disease, though the trial behind that finding tested a 500 mg flavanol capsule rather than a drink. Its investigators said plainly it was not a chocolate trial, and that the dose could not realistically be reached from cocoa without a great deal of sugar and fat. The cardiovascular-death result was also a secondary one; the trial’s main outcome, total cardiovascular events, was not significantly reduced. A randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled study, COSMOS, looked at cocoa supplementation in 21,442 participants over 60 and found that those who took the supplement had a 27% lower risk of cardiovascular death.
That said, it did not have a positive correlation with cardiovascular events, but rather with the outcomes of those events. Because it was a supplement, more research is needed to confirm whether drinking hot cocoa regularly, and how much, could yield the same results.
Hibiscus Tea
Preliminary evidence supports hibiscus tea as a potential blood pressure reducer, which may reduce cardiovascular disease risk later in life. In one randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled clinical trial, researchers measured blood pressure in 65 pre- or mildly hypertensive participants aged 30 to 70 before and after drinking hibiscus tea or taking a placebo for six weeks.
The results showed that those who drank around three cups of the tea daily experienced reductions in their blood pressure during that time. However, the sample size was small, so more research is needed to confirm these findings on a larger scale.
Beet Juice
Drinking beet juice may also help with blood pressure. A systematic review and meta-analysis of seven randomized controlled trials, single- or double-blind, involving 218 adults with high blood pressure, examined results from those who consumed 70 to 250ml of beet juice daily for three to 60 days.
The results showed that the nitrates in beet juice could reduce systolic blood pressure, the pressure that occurs when the heart beats. However, this study did not find a reduction in diastolic blood pressure, which is the pressure measured between beats.
Because the sample size was small across the seven studies, more research is needed to confirm how well beet juice can reduce blood pressure and whether it slows aging or reduces age-related cardiovascular risk.
The marketed drinks
Collagen Water
Collagen water is often hailed as a holy grail, but when it comes to aging, it can at best improve skin elasticity and hydration. A systematic review of randomized, double-blind, controlled trials pooled 967 participants across 14 studies and found that hydrolyzed collagen supplements can improve skin, but not much else. Those trials used powders, capsules and multi-ingredient products over varying durations, with some effects appearing by four weeks, so it is supplement evidence rather than evidence about a particular collagen drink. There isn’t any significant data on any other factors of aging when it comes to collagen water.
Celery Juice
There is no strong evidence to support celery juice as an anti-aging drink, and most evidence comes from animal trials and lab tests. It’s thought that antioxidants in celery can reduce cellular damage and oxidative stress, which plays into inflammation, but there are no studies on celery juice, and these effects have not yet been found in humans.
Longevity or Adaptogen Lattes
While some preliminary research looks at certain ingredients used in adaptogen or longevity lattes, no human clinical trials show they slow the aging process or ward off chronic disease and early mortality.
One review examined how adaptogens work and proposed that they act on the body’s stress-response pathways, with possible effects on inflammation and nerve health. That review is mechanistic and largely preclinical rather than a set of human trials, and it says nothing about the ingredients or doses sold in a latte, but it’s challenging to determine which ingredients work best, at what dose they would be needed, and whether or not they have an effect on aging until more research is done on specific beverages.
Mushroom Coffee
There is little evidence to support mushroom coffee as an anti-aging drink, but some preliminary evidence suggests that bioactive compounds in medicinal mushrooms such as Lion’s Mane and Reishi could reduce oxidative stress in lab and animal studies.
One cross-sectional epidemiological study examined mushroom consumption among 2,840 adults over 60 and found a correlation between more frequent mushroom consumption and higher scores on tests measuring processing speed and executive function.
That said, it’s unclear how many of the beneficial compounds found in mushrooms make it into mushroom coffee, if any, and whether consuming them in a beverage leads to healthier aging.
Alkaline Water
Alkaline water may play a role in reducing oxidative stress and improving how people age, but the evidence sits in animal studies, which is not strong evidence of anything in people. Systematic reviews in humans have not found that alkaline water changes blood or urine measures, gut bacteria or fitness, and blood pH is tightly regulated regardless of what you drink. Animal models show that alkaline water helps protect DNA by increasing telomerase, an enzyme that maintains protective caps on the ends of DNA.
That said, animal models do not mean the same process will automatically apply to humans, so more studies are needed to confirm or deny whether alkaline water can be consumed to slow aging.
The one drink to cut
Sugar-Sweetened Beverages
If you’re concerned about early aging and age-related diseases, one drink to absolutely avoid is sugar-sweetened beverages. Several studies have examined its effects on aging and found negative results. For example, cohort evidence from one study on 3,322 adult survivors of childhood cancer found that higher intake of added sugars was associated with more age-related chronic conditions. That population was adult survivors of childhood cancer, carrying the effects of earlier treatment, so the finding does not transfer directly to healthy adults.
Another cross-sectional study examined sugary soda consumption in 5,309 healthy adults and found that higher intake of these drinks is associated with accelerated cell aging because they affect telomeres, the protective caps of DNA. Participants who drank 590 ml of soda daily had telomeres shorter by an amount that works out to about 4.6 years of additional aging. That is a calculation from a single snapshot of telomere length rather than a measured biological age, and the authors are clear the design cannot establish cause and effect.
Alcohol
Alcohol gets an honorable mention because many people are told that resveratrol found in red wine can actually help aging, but the evidence does not support that either way. A cohort study challenged the catchy headlines and found no association between resveratrol intake and reduced mortality rates, chronic disease risk, or inflammation.
What a day looks like
Now, if you want to add evidence-backed beverages to your diet, it’s simple: start with water, then add others as needed. Water is vital, though there is no studied eight-cup target. The national adequate intake figures, roughly 11.5 cups a day for women and 15.5 for men, count all beverages plus the water in food, and most healthy people can follow thirst.
If you already drink coffee, that’s great, but try to cut back on cream and sugar. You can also mix in tea and hot cocoa by replacing one cup of coffee per day, or start your day with coffee and end with your favorite tea or hot cocoa.
The important thing is not to overwhelm yourself with new diet additions. Add the drinks slowly into your week and build from there, or find a balance that works for you. It’s about prolonging your life and health, not stressing about doing so.
Angelica Bottaro is a medical writer and researcher with a background in psychology and journalism.
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