Moderate coffee consumption lowers risk of heart disease, stroke, death

Drinking as many as three cups of coffee per day may lower a person's risk of stroke and fatal heart disease, according to new research presented at ESC Congress 2021.

The authors examined data from 468,629 participants from the UK Biobank study. Fifty-five percent of the patients were women, and the average age was 56 years old. None of them showed any signs of heart disease at the time of recruitment.

The median follow-up period was 11 years.

“To our knowledge, this is the largest study to systematically assess the cardiovascular effects of regular coffee consumption in a population without diagnosed heart disease,” said Judit Simon, MD, of the Heart and Vascular Centre, Semmelweis University, Budapest, Hungary, in a prepared statement.

Participants were divided into three groups based on their normal coffee consumption: non-coffee drinkers, light-to-moderate consumers (0.5 to 3 cups per day) and high coffee drinkers (more than 3 cups per day).

Overall, compared to non-coffee drinkers, light-to-moderate consumption was linked to a 12% lower risk of all-cause mortality, 17% lower risk of mortality from cardiovascular disease and 21% lower risk of stroke.

Researchers also looked at how daily coffee consumption may affect heart structure and function over a median follow-up of 11 years.

Data was extrapolated from 30,650 participants who underwent cardiac MRI scans. 

“The imaging analysis indicated that compared with participants who did not drink coffee regularly, daily consumers had healthier sized and better functioning hearts," Simon said. "This was consistent with reversing the detrimental effects of aging on the heart."

Reviewing all of her team's findings, Simon concluded that drinking up to three cups of coffee per day is "associated with favorable cardiovascular outcomes." 

"While further studies are needed to explain the underlying mechanisms, the observed benefits might be partly explained by positive alterations in cardiac structure and function," she said. 

More information related to ESC Congress 2021, a virtual conference hosted by the European Society of Cardiology, is available here.

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