Is Machine Learning The Future Of Coffee Health Research?

If you've been a reader of Sprudge for any reasonable amount of time, you've no doubt by now ready multiple articles about how coffee is potentially beneficial for some particular facet of your health. The stories generally go like this: "a study finds drinking coffee is associated with a X% decrease in [bad health outcome]" followed shortly by "the study is observational and does not prove causation." In a new study in the American Heart Association's journal Circulation: Heart Failure, researchers found a link between drinking three or more cups of coffee a day and a decreased risk of heart failure. This study used machine learning to get to its conclusion, and it may significantly alter the utility of this sort of study in the future. As reported by the New York Times, the new study isn't exactly new at all.