Drinking three cups of coffee a day could reduce the risk of heart disease, diabetes and stroke, a study suggests.
In a study of more than 350,000 adults, Chinese researchers compared those who drank just one cup of coffee a day with those who drank three.
Using patients’ health records, the team found that people who drank about three cups of coffee a day had the lowest risk of cardiometabolic diseases, such as diabetes, heart disease and stroke.
While the team isn’t sure why coffee has such a protective effect, experts believe it could reduce harmful inflammation and help lower cholesterol, which can lead to metabolic diseases in the long term.
Researchers in China found that people who drank three cups of coffee a day had a 48 percent lower risk of diseases such as diabetes and stroke than those who drank just one cup.
However, there is a fine line when it comes to overdoing it.
Other research has shown that drinking four or more cups a day may increase your risk of heart disease due to high heart rate and blood pressure.
Dr Chaofu Ke, senior author of the study and associate professor of epidemiology at Soochow University Suzhou College of Medicine in China, said: “The findings highlight that promoting moderate amounts of coffee or caffeine consumption as a dietary habit for healthy individuals could have far-reaching benefits for the prevention of (cardiometabolic death).”
In the new study, published Tuesday in The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism, researchers evaluated the health records of 360,406 adults in the UK Biobank database.
Participants were aged between 37 and 73 years and almost half had no history of cardiometabolic disease.
Using self-reported responses, records from primary care physicians and hospitals, and death certificates, the team compared the risks of developing these disorders in people who drank no caffeine or who drank one cup of coffee a day (100 milligrams of caffeine) with those who drank three (200 to 300 milligrams a day).
The team found that people who consumed three cups of coffee a day had a 48 percent lower risk of developing cardiometabolic diseases, and those who consumed between 200 and 300 milligrams of caffeine in other forms, such as tea, had a 40 percent lower risk.
Dr Ke said: ‘Consuming three cups of coffee, or 200-300 mg of caffeine, per day might help reduce the risk of developing cardiometabolic multimorbidity in people without any cardiometabolic disease.’
Researchers aren’t quite sure why exactly coffee may reduce the risk of diseases like type 2 diabetes and stroke, although previous research has pointed to coffee’s high levels of polyphenols, a form of antioxidant.
Antioxidants are molecules that attack free radicals, unstable compounds that increase oxidative stress throughout the body. If left untreated, oxidative stress can increase inflammation and blood pressure, which increases the risk of cardiometabolic diseases.
Other recent research has supported the findings of the new study. For example, a Study 2022 A study of nearly 450,000 adults found that those who drank two to three cups of coffee a day had a lower risk of heart disease and premature death than those who avoided the drink altogether.
Moderation is key, however. A study published last month, for example, concluded that drinking more than four cups of coffee a day increases the risk of heart disease.
The researchers said this is likely due to sustained elevated heart rate and blood pressure, which can damage blood vessels and weaken the heart.