Lover of coffee, well, they adore some research.
Among them is this one: Several cups of caffeinated tea or coffee a day may help prevent stroke, coronary heart disease, and Type 2 diabetes.
As long as they don’t consume excessive amounts of caffeine, the results, which were released on Tuesday in the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism, support previous studies that indicate regular coffee users had better heart health than nondrinkers.
Co-lead author of the research Chaofu Ke, an associate professor in the department of epidemiology and biostatistics at Soochow University in China, stated in an email that “caffeine intake at different doses could have different health effects.”
Ke and a team of researchers from China and Sweden examined the coffee and tea consumption patterns of 188,000 individuals between the ages of 37 and 73 who had filled out questionnaires about their beverage intake over the previous 24 hours from the U.K. Biobank, a sizable database that holds anonymized health information. Additionally, they examined the replies of around 172,000 respondents who indicated that they consumed tea or coffee with caffeine.
At the start of the trial, none of them had a history of cardiometabolic illness, which is defined as having a diagnosis of at least two of the three conditions: stroke, coronary heart disease, or Type 2 diabetes.
After around 12 years, the volunteers were contacted again by the researchers. The sweet spot, according to the researchers, was two to three cups of coffee or up to three cups of tea each day.
Individuals who drank less than 100 mg of caffeine per day were not as likely to develop cardiometabolic illness as those who drank 200–300 mg daily.
Individuals who drank coffee had the lowest risk of developing cardiometabolic disease—nearly 50% lower—while those who drank tea or a combination of the two liquids and 200–300 mg of caffeine had a 40% lower risk. The reduction in cardiometabolic risk was greatest for tea users who drank up to three cups a day; however, the advantages did not last beyond that point.
Caffeine did not seem to have any detrimental effects on the cardiometabolic health of those who drank more than 400 mg per day, which made up just 4% of the study’s caffeine users.
Additionally, moderate daily coffee consumption was linked to a decreased chance of getting another cardiometabolic illness in individuals who did eventually develop the condition.
A moderate amount of caffeine has also been connected to certain metabolites, which are substances the body produces when it breaks down food and drink, and which are associated with improved heart health.
Ke said, “Moderate caffeine consumption may regulate levels of these metabolites.”
The results must be interpreted in light of the larger picture, according to Dr. Luke Laffin, co-director of the Cleveland Clinic Center for Blood Pressure Disorders.
Laffin, who was not engaged in the research, stated, “It can give us an idea, but we can’t draw any conclusions.” The wisest course of action is usually to do everything in moderation. It appears that a few cups of coffee per day may be protective in terms of dosage.
He did, however, note that caffeine use may be more hazardous in some cases of cardiac disease. “If a person already has hypertension, drinking too much coffee can make it worse,” Laffin stated.
Additionally, research has linked a high caffeine intake to an increased risk of stroke and dementia. Positive associations between coffee consumption and heart failure, Type 2 diabetes, and renal health have been shown in other research.
In addition to a person’s underlying medical conditions, Dr. Stephen Kopecky, a preventive cardiologist at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, stated that a person’s caffeine consumption habits probably have a significant impact on their health.
“I want to avoid sending out the message that caffeine is beneficial, so let’s consume more of it. We have never discovered that supplementing a diet with helpful ingredients is similarly effective, according to Kopecky.
The study had a key limitation in that it only included those who routinely consumed green or black tea, or coffee, each of which contain hundreds or thousands of different chemical constituents, of which caffeine is just one.
According to Kopecky, “all of these elements probably have an effect, but they have to be together.”
While smoking, obesity, exercise, and food were taken into account when adjusting for heart disease risk factors, there is still a lack of information regarding additional habits that individuals may have in addition to coffee use that might impact their risk.
“Doing a study that accounts for everything is difficult,” Laffin remarked, noting that most individuals are quite content with a daily cup of coffee.
Kopecky concurred and noted that it’s best to stay away from ingesting caffeine from energy drinks, which frequently include caffeine shots as well as additional sugar, artificial sweeteners, and other chemicals. Additionally, keep things basic when it comes to tea and coffee.
