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How coffee affects heart health

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How coffee affects heart health

How coffee affects heart health

There are a lot of different opinions about coffee's impact on heart health, from causing heart diseases to not affecting it at all or even being helpful. A recent study that gathered info from 8,412 peoples across the UK shows that there was no connection between coffee drinking and arterial stiffness which is considered the most common reason for increased chances of stroke or heart attack, even if a person drank 25 cups of coffee every day. This year these results were shown at the British Cardiovascular Society meeting. Mass media immediately picked up the part about safely drinking 25 cups of coffee per day but was its main conclusion that could be taken from this research? Let's dive into it!

During the study, all participants were separated into three groups based on their coffee consumption:

  • less than 1 cup per day;
  • 1-3 cups per day;
  • more than 3 cups per day.

The study shows that none of those three groups has increased chances to suffer arterial stiffening. However, the average amount of coffee that people from the third group drink per day is 5 cups which, according to the European Food Safety Authority’s review of caffeine safety, counts as moderate coffee consumption. And only two subjects in this group really drank 25 cups every day which was highlighted in newspapers. Whether these two subjects had results different from the rest of their group is actually unknown. 

There are more studies in this area and with different results. For example, a 2013 Japanese research shows that in fact drinking coffee decreases arterial stiffness. But further researches assume that prolonged coffee consumption might cause aortic stiffness, which may add to the risk of cardiovascular disease. Seems like more studies are required to fully understand how exactly coffee drinking affects arterial stiffness and how important a daily amount of coffee can be.