Myth destroyed: Consume up to 25 cups of coffee a day does not hurt heart health

LONDON: Drinking coffee, including among people consuming up to 25 cups a day, might not be as severe for the arteries and heart as previously thought, according to a study unveiled Monday. The arteries carry blood containing oxygen and nutrients from our heart to the rest of your body.

If they become stiff, it can increase the workload of the heart and increase the risk of heart attack or stroke.

The study, conducted by researchers at Queen Mary University in London, UK, of more than 8,000 people refutes previous studies claiming that coffee consumption increased arterial stiffness.

Researchers have stated that previous suggestions that coffee consumption leads to arterial stiffness are inconsistent and may be limited by the reduced number of participants.

Coffee consumption was divided into three groups for the study.

Those who drink less than a cup a day, those who drink between one and three cups a day and those who drink more than three.

People who consume more than 25 cups of coffee a day are excluded, but no increased stiffness of the arteries is badociated with those who drink up to this upper limit than those who drink less than one cup per day.

The badociations between coffee consumption and arterial stiffness measures were corrected to account for factors such as age, gender, ethnicity, smoking, height, weight, amount alcohol consumed, alcohol consumption and high blood pressure.

Research has shown that of the 8,412 participants who had cardiac MRI scans and infrared pulse waves, moderate and strong coffee drinkers tended to be men, to smoke, and to consume alcohol. regularly.

"Despite the tremendous popularity of coffee in the world, various reports could deter people from enjoying it," said Kenneth Fung of Queen Mary University in London.

"Although we can not prove a causal connection in this study, our research indicates that coffee is not as harmful to the arteries as suggested by previous studies," Fung said.

Although the study includes people who drink up to 25 cups a day, the average consumption of the most consumed group of coffee is five cups a day.

"We would like to study these people more closely in our future work so we can help advise on safety limits," he said.

"Researchers and the media have been preparing for some time to understand the impact of coffee on our heart and circulatory system," said Professor Metin Avkiran, deputy medical director at the British Heart Foundation.

"Many contradictory studies say different things about coffee, and it can be difficult to filter what we should believe and what we should not.

"We hope this research will put some of the media stories in perspective because it eliminates one of the potential adverse effects of coffee on our arteries," said Avkiran.