Drinking Coffee Reduces Stroke and Heart Disease Risk

If you love coffee, keep drinking it. If you stay away from it because it's bad for your health, you may want to reconsider. Researchers continue to find beneficial effects from drinking coffee.

Stroke: The Journal of American Heart Association reports that woman who drink more than one cup a day of coffee are less likely to suffer from a stroke. It has to be at least a coffee a day because participants in this study did not show beneficial effects from less than 8 ounces a day. Interestingly enough, even people who consumed alcohol, had a history of diabetes, hypertension, and a high body mass index showed beneficial results from coffee consumption.

A study published in Arteriosclerosis, Thrombosis, and Vascular Biology: Journal of the American Heart Association also shows that moderate and high consumption of caffeine in tea or coffee can reduce the risk of heart disease. The largest benefit came from drinking three to six cups of tea a day. The least benefit was only drinking two to four cups of tea a day. Coffee had similar effects.

The latter study identified that caffeine consumption did not have a significant effect on stroke risk. However, the consumption amount of coffee in the stroke study was significantly less than in the heart disease one, which may mean that lower amounts lower stroke risk while higher amounts may be counterproductive.

So what do you do with this information, especially since the studies tend to conflict on the issue of stoke risk? Drink coffee but watch how much you drink. Drinking large amounts of coffee can make you feel jittery and cause sleep problems, which can then lead to other health issues. Like anything, moderation is key.