According to research presented at the ESC 2021 Congress, drinking up to three cups of coffee a day is associated with a lower risk of stroke and fatal heart disease.
This is the largest study to systematically evaluate the cardiovascular effects of regular coffee consumption in a population without diagnosed heart disease.
The largest study
This study investigated the association between habitual coffee intake and an incident of heart attack, stroke, and death. The study included 468,629 UK Biobank participants with no signs of heart disease at the time of enrollment. The mean age was 56.2 years and 55.8% were women.
The participants were divided into three groups according to their habitual coffee intake: none (did not consume coffee regularly, 22.1%), light to moderate (0.5 to 3 cups / day, 58.4%) and high ( more than 3 cups / 19.5%).
The researchers calculated the association of daily coffee consumption with incident outcomes during a median follow-up of 11 years using multivariate models . Analyzes were adjusted for factors that might influence the relationship, including age, gender, weight, height, smoking, physical activity, high blood pressure, diabetes, cholesterol level, socioeconomic status, and the usual intake of alcohol, meat, tea, fruits and vegetables.
To examine possible underlying mechanisms, the researchers analyzed the association between daily coffee intake and the structure and function of the heart during a median follow-up of 11 years. To do this, they used data from 30,650 participants who underwent cardiac magnetic resonance imaging (MRI).