Good news for coffee lovers: a new study from Semmelweis University suggests that drinking up to three cups of coffee a day could lower the risk of stroke and fatal heart disease. Coffee is one of the most popular drinks around the world, and this research adds a positive view to the ongoing debate about how it affects heart health.
In the past, it wasn’t clear whether drinking coffee regularly was good or bad for the heart over many years. To find answers, researchers studied how everyday coffee drinking affects the chances of having a heart attack, a stroke, or dying early.
They looked at data from the UK Biobank, a large health database that included information from 468,629 people. None of these participants had heart disease at the start of the study. Their average age was 56, and there were slightly more women than men. The researchers followed them for 10 to 15 years.
The participants were grouped based on how much coffee they drank. About 22% didn’t drink coffee often, 58% drank a light to moderate amount (between half a cup and three cups a day), and 19% drank more than three cups a day.
The results were impressive. Compared to people who didn’t drink coffee, those who drank a light to moderate amount had a 12% lower risk of dying from any cause, a 17% lower risk of dying from heart disease, and a 21% lower risk of having a stroke.
This suggests that drinking a moderate amount of coffee could help protect the heart and may even help people live longer.
The researchers also wanted to see if coffee had any effect on the heart’s structure and function. They studied heart images from 30,650 people who had undergone a special kind of scan called a cardiac MRI. This scan shows very detailed pictures of the heart.
The images showed that people who regularly drank coffee tended to have healthier hearts. Their hearts were in better shape and worked better compared to those who didn’t drink coffee. This finding suggests that coffee might help slow down the natural aging process of the heart.
Although the study showed strong benefits, scientists are still not completely sure why coffee helps the heart. It may be because of the special compounds found in coffee, which could improve heart structure and function over time.
Even though the results are encouraging, the study’s authors, including Dr. Judit Simon, said that more research is needed to fully understand how coffee provides these heart benefits.
This research was presented at the ESC Congress 2021, one of the biggest heart health meetings in the world, showing how important these findings could be.
For people who want to lower their risk of stroke and heart disease, this study suggests that drinking a few cups of coffee each day might be a healthy choice. However, everyone is different, and people with certain health problems should talk to their doctor before making big changes to their diet.
Overall, this study not only points out the potential heart benefits of coffee but also encourages us to keep exploring how simple daily habits can have a big impact on long-term health.
If you care about heart health, please read studies that vitamin K helps cut heart disease risk by a third, and a year of exercise reversed worrisome heart failure.
For more health information, please see recent studies about supplements that could help prevent heart disease, stroke, and results showing this food ingredient may strongly increase heart disease death risk.
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