Good news for coffee and tea lovers! A recent study says that drinking a moderate amount of these beverages may lower your chances of having a stroke or developing dementia.
Strokes are serious health events that account for 10% of deaths worldwide, while dementia affects brain function and is a growing concern globally.
Even more interestingly, coffee drinkers also seem less likely to develop dementia after having a stroke.
The Study Details
The research comes from Yuan Zhang and a team at Tianjin Medical University in China. They looked at data from the UK Biobank, which had health information on 365,682 people aged 50-74.
These participants were followed from 2006 until 2020. In the beginning, everyone in the study told researchers how much coffee and tea they drank.
Over the years, 5,079 people developed dementia and 10,053 had at least one stroke.
Here’s what they found:
People who drank 2-3 cups of coffee or 3-5 cups of tea each day had the lowest chances of getting a stroke or dementia.
Drinking both 2-3 cups of coffee and 2-3 cups of tea daily was linked with a 32% lower risk of having a stroke and a 28% lower risk of dementia compared to those who didn’t drink coffee or tea at all.
Coffee, whether on its own or combined with tea, was also linked with a lower risk of developing dementia after a stroke.
What Does This Mean for You?
The study suggests that if you enjoy a moderate amount of coffee and tea, it could possibly be good for your brain health. But before you go brewing another pot, there are some things to consider.
The study was based on a group of people who were generally healthier than the average population, so the findings may not apply to everyone.
Also, just because there’s a link between drinking coffee or tea and lower risks of stroke and dementia doesn’t mean one causes the other. More research is needed to say for sure.
The research findings can be found in PLoS Med.
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