Good news for coffee lovers: drinking up to three cups of coffee a day may actually be good for your heart.
A recent study from Semmelweis University in Hungary found that moderate coffee consumption is linked to a lower risk of stroke, heart disease, and even death from any cause.
Coffee is one of the most popular drinks in the world, but for years, experts have debated whether it’s good or bad for heart health.
This study, presented at the European Society of Cardiology Congress in 2021, offers some reassuring answers — at least for moderate coffee drinkers.
To get these results, researchers used data from the UK Biobank, a large health database. They looked at health records from over 468,000 people who didn’t have any known heart disease when the study began.
The average age of the participants was about 56, and slightly more than half were women. These people were tracked over a period of 10 to 15 years.
Participants were divided into three groups based on how much coffee they drank. About 22% didn’t drink coffee regularly. The largest group, around 58%, drank between half a cup and three cups a day. The remaining 20% were heavy coffee drinkers, consuming more than three cups a day.
The results showed that people who drank 0.5 to 3 cups of coffee per day had better health outcomes compared to those who rarely or never drank coffee. Specifically, moderate coffee drinkers were 12% less likely to die from any cause, 17% less likely to die from heart disease, and 21% less likely to have a stroke.
To understand why this might be happening, the researchers also examined heart scans from a smaller group of about 30,000 people. These scans showed that moderate coffee drinkers tended to have healthier hearts. Their hearts were larger in size and functioned better, which could mean they were aging more slowly compared to non-coffee drinkers.
These findings are interesting because they suggest that coffee might not just be harmless—it could actually help protect your heart. However, scientists still don’t fully understand how coffee brings these benefits. Some think it might be due to the natural compounds in coffee that affect how the heart works or reduce inflammation.
Dr. Judit Simon, one of the researchers involved in the study, said that while the results are promising, more research is needed to understand exactly how coffee affects the heart and why moderate amounts seem to help.
For now, this study suggests that having a couple of cups of coffee each day could be a simple way to support heart health, especially as you get older. Of course, it’s always important to consider your own health needs. People with certain conditions or sensitivities might still need to limit their caffeine intake, so it’s a good idea to talk to a doctor before making changes.
Still, for most people, this research is a welcome reminder that enjoying a daily cup (or two or three) of coffee may not just be safe—it might even be good for your heart.
If you care about health, please read studies about the benefits of low-dose lithium supplements, and what we know about egg intake and heart disease.
For more health information, please see recent studies about potatoes and high blood pressure, and results showing 6 best breads for people with heart disease.
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