Are you a coffee enthusiast? Or maybe you’re a tea devotee instead? Perhaps neither (or both) tickle your fancy?
If you’re a regular Healthier Talk reader, you likely know I’m passionate about my coffee. But I sincerely love both beverages. This is why a new study that just crossed my desk first caught my attention.
It turns out drinking both coffee and tea could reduce the risk for stroke and dementia. And we’re not talking about a tiny drop in risk here either. Far from it, in fact.
So go ahead and grab a mug of your own favorite hot beverage. And then settle in while I tell you all about this exciting new finding.
Plus, I’ll reveal exactly how much you should be drinking of both to potentially slash your own risks for these devastating conditions.
Try a coffee and tea combo for the win
This wasn’t a small study. The researchers had a ton of data to work with. So the results are even more impressive.
The scientists from Tianjin Medical University recruited well over 365,000 folks to evaluate coffee and tea drinking and stroke and dementia risk. Plus, an additional 13,352 volunteers for an analysis on poststroke dementia.
They followed all the participants for an average of 11.4 years. In that time, 1.4 percent of the volunteers developed dementia, and 2.8 percent had a stroke. And by any measure, drinking coffee and tea was beneficial.
When they looked at coffee drinkers, their stroke risk was…
- 10 percent lower if they drank a half cup to a cup per day
- 8 percent lower if they drank more than two cups a day
Tea drinkers had an even bigger drop in risk. More than two cups of tea a day was linked to a 16 reduction in stroke risk.
But folks who drank both coffee and tea were the real winners. Drinking two to three cups of coffee AND two to three cups of tea a day was associated with a…
- 32 percent plunge in stroke risk
- 28 percent drop in dementia risk
And if you drink both coffee and tea but four to six cups are a bit much for you, you’re still in luck. The researchers found that across the board, regardless of total amounts, drinking both beverages was linked to an…
- 11 percent lower risk for stroke
- 8 percent drop in dementia risk
- 18 percent lower risk for vascular dementia (the blockage of a brain artery)
But the benefits didn’t end there.
Both beverages are linked to bunches of benefits
The unlucky volunteers who had a stroke during the follow-up period still benefited from their hot beverage habits.
Coffee drinkers who drank two to three cups a day had a 20 percent lower risk for poststroke dementia. And the combo drinkers who drank up to a cup of coffee and two to three cups of tea daily had an incredible 50 percent lower risk for poststroke dementia.
And, of course, this isn’t the first time we’ve seen a coffee and tea deliver big-time health benefits. A stack of studies has shown how drinking either can reduce your risks for a variety of diseases.
For example, research has linked the caffeine in coffee to better mood and memory. Plus, several studies have found coffee drinkers have up to a 65 percent lower risk of Alzheimer’s and a significantly lower risk for Parkinson’s.
Coffee drinking is also associated with a lower risk of colorectal cancer, better heart health, and up to a 60 percent lower risk for diabetes. While recent studies have also reconfirmed its liver-supporting benefits, lowering liver cancer risk by up to 40 percent.
Tea has a resume every bit as impressive as coffee. And green tea, in particular, is a superstar, protecting and preserving muscle as we age, fighting memory loss, reducing cancer risk, promoting weight loss, and more.
And now this latest research confirms both coffee and tea could help us reduce our stroke and dementia risks too. So I don’t know about you, but I’m headed to the kitchen to refill my mug. Care to join me?
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