You know me by now. I’m a confirmed coffee fan. In fact, I regularly report on my favorite beverage’s health benefits right here in Healthier Talk.
And the list is impressive, to say the least. Studies have already linked coffee drinking to a lower risk for dementia, obesity, Parkinson’s disease, type-2 diabetes, and cancer. So it’s no surprise that coffee is tied to a longer lifespan too.
I’ve also reported on a growing stack of research tying coffee drinking to better overall heart health.
But the long-held belief that drinking too much coffee harms the heart has tarnished the reputation of America’s favorite breakfast beverage for years. With essentially nothing more than some questionable studies from the 90s to back it up.
Now an impressive analysis I first reported on last year is starting to attract a lot of attention online. The newly published study has finally cleared away any lingering doubts.
The research confirms what many of us have been saying all along. Coffee is fantastic for our heart health too.
Analysis CONFIRMS coffee IS heart-friendly
The researchers knew they needed to look at a large number of folks… both coffee drinkers and non-coffee drinkers… to FINALLY put this issue to bed once and for all. So they turned to the UK Biobank.
The Biobank is a huge database that contains in-depth health and genetic information for over half a million 40 to 69-year-old volunteers. The database even includes detailed diet questionnaires and MRI heart scans.
In other words, it’s the perfect tool for an analysis like this one. And the researchers found 468,629 Biobank participants with no record of heart disease when they first volunteered to include in the study.
Of the volunteers…
- 1 percent were non-coffee drinkers
- 4 percent were light-to-moderate coffee drinkers (0.5 to three cups daily)
- 5 percent were high coffee drinkers (over three cups per day)
Then they set a follow-up period of 11 years to look for any links between a regular coffee habit and the development of heart disease and all-cause mortality.
And I’m happy to report our favorite brew came out on top.
Slash your risk of dying from heart disease
The researchers carefully crunched the data, and some clear patterns emerged. The light to moderate coffee drinkers didn’t just get to indulge in a delicious cup of coffee up to three times a day. Their habit was linked to some impressive benefits too.
When compared to non-coffee fans, the light to moderate drinkers had a…
- 12 percent lower risk of overall death
- 17 percent lower risk of death from cardiovascular disease
But the benefits didn’t end there. Drinking between a half cup and three cups of Joe a day was also linked to an impressive 21 percent lower risk of stroke.
And that old persistent rumor that java is linked to high blood pressure? It’s bunk. The study found no connection between hypertension and coffee drinking.
Earlier research has even disproved the myth that coffee causes heart rhythm issues. In fact, it may be just the opposite. You can catch up on that research in my earlier report, The DONUT SHOP secret to a STRONGER heart.
Oh, and if you’re like me and tend to lean towards the “high” part of that coffee drinking scale, don’t worry. The new study didn’t find any evidence of negative heart consequences even among us super fans. I think I’ll go get another cup to celebrate.
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