Three cups of coffee a day reduces risk of heart disease
As if we didn’t have enough reason to drink coffee multiple times per day anyway, researchers have found that drinking up to three cups of coffee per day can reduce your risk of heart disease by almost 21%.
The combination of antioxidants in the drink have properties that help protect the brain and heart from certain diseases – including heart disease.
Carried out by the Institute for Scientific Information on Coffee, the study was funded in part by European coffee companies Illy, Nestle and Douwe Egberts, the findings were presented to the European Association for Cardiovascular Prevention and Rehabilitation on World Heart Day.
The study concluded that between three and five cups of coffee per day produced the best ‘defence’ effect, providing the greatest risk reduction towards the lower end of this scale. Basically three is about right, five is getting towards too many.
Despite this information, the British Heart Foundation has warned that we should not just start downing our favourite caffeine-based beverage by the bucket-load. This information should be used as part of a healthy lifestyle, and doesn’t provide a solution to a poor diet and exercise routine.
The charity’s senior cardiac nurse, Maureen Talbot, said: “It is important to remember maintaining a healthy lifestyle is what really matters if you want to keep your heart healthy, not how much coffee you drink.
“While this study may suggest drinking three cups of coffee a day could offer some protection from heart and circulatory disease, it should not be taken as a green light to drink lots of caffeine.
“Good heart health is down to a multitude of factors such as eating a balanced diet and taking regular exercise.”
So despite this results pointing to an decrease in lower heart disease risk, it’s just a one in a number of factors that can help your cardiovascular health.
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— coffeeandhealth (@coffeeandhealth) September 29, 2016
But why is this research being conducted at all, if we already know that heart health can be maintained by simply eating better and exercising? Well, to put it bluntly, it’s down to the numbers of people still dying from cardiovascular diseases around the world.
Every single year, heart disease claims the lives of more than four million Europeans, that’s the equivalent of one death every seven seconds.
Therefore any and all research that provides a link to a decrease in the prevalence of the condition will be a valuable asset to help tackle and increase future treatment options.
So for those of us that do drink an average of 3 to 5 cups of coffee per day, this is welcome news! As long as we manage our diet and exercise, we are helping keep our hearts healthy.
For more information on the study please visit: www.coffeeandhealth.org