Among middle-aged people without heart disease, drinking up to 3 cups of coffee a day was associated with a lower risk of stroke or death over the next decade, along with better heart structure and function, in a wide observational study.
Specifically, the consumption of light to moderate coffee, defined between 0.5 and 3 cups a day, was associated with a 21% lower risk of stroke, a 17% lower risk of death from cardiovascular disease (CVD) and a 12% lower risk. % lower risk for death from all causes, as well as more favorable cardiac MRI findings, compared with non-consumers (<0.5 cups per day) during an average follow-up of 11 years.
Heavy coffee drinkers, defined as those who consume more than 3 cups a day, on the other hand, also showed more favorable cardiac MRI results, but with similar (not lower) rates of stroke and CVD or mortality for all. the causes compared to non-consumers.
Judit Simon, MD, presented these findings, from nearly 500,000 participants in the UK Biobank study, at a press conference ahead of an electronic poster session at the Virtual Congress of the European Society of Cardiology (ESC) 2021.
“To our knowledge, this is the largest study to systematically evaluate the cardiovascular effects of regular coffee consumption in a population without diagnosed heart disease,” said Simon, a doctoral student at the Heart and Vascular Center at Semmelweis University. , Budapest, Hungary. an ESC press release.
The results “suggest that regular coffee consumption is safe, as even a high daily intake was not associated with adverse cardiovascular outcomes and all-cause mortality after 10 to 15 years of follow-up,” he said. .
Image analysis showed that “compared to participants who did not drink coffee regularly, daily consumers had a healthier heart and a better functioning,” continued Simon, “consisting of reversing the harmful effects of aging in the heart “.
“The observed benefits could be explained in part by positive alterations in cardiac structure and function,” he speculated, adding that additional studies are needed to explain the underlying mechanisms.
Most popular instant coffee
In this population, coffee consumers drank mainly instant coffee (55%), followed by filtered / ground coffee (23%), decaffeinated coffee (20%) or other types of coffee (2%), according to Simon. theheart.org | Cardiology Medscape.
He added that the risk of myocardial infarction (MI) or heart failure did not differ significantly for the different categories of coffee consumption. The researchers did not study the effect of coffee consumption on atrial fibrillation (AF), he noted.
The limitations of the study, Simon acknowledged, include that it was observational, so it cannot show any causality, and that coffee consumption was reported by itself in a questionnaire.
Invited to comment, Alice H. Lichtenstein, DSc, who did not participate in the research, said: “Consistent with previous data, this new study indicates that there is no adverse effect of coffee consumption on cardiovascular health and that there may be a benefit “.
However, “due to the nature of the data, it would not be recommended for a person to start drinking coffee to improve cardiovascular health,” added Lichtenstein, director and senior scientist at the Cardiovascular Nutrition Laboratory at Tufts University, Boston. Massachusetts.
But if people already drink coffee, “it’s okay to go on, assuming coffee drinks don’t have an added sugar and cream content,” he said in an email to theheart.org | Cardiology Medscape.
Coffee consumption, cardiovascular disease outcomes and heart structure
To study the relationship between coffee intake and incident myocardial infarction (MI), stroke and death, as well as heart structure, the researchers examined data from the UK Biobank, which recruited 500,000 people aged 40 to 69 between 2006 and 2010 between The United Kingdom.
They identified 468,629 participants with no signs of heart disease in recruitment and a mean age of 56, of whom 56% were women.
Participants were divided into three groups according to usual coffee intake: none (22% of participants), mild to moderate (58%), and high (20%).
The average tea intake was 3 cups per day overall, 4 cups per day in coffee-free coffee consumers, 3 cups per day in light to moderate coffee consumers, and 1 cup per day in high-coffee consumers.
Compared to not drinking coffee, light to moderate coffee consumption was associated with lower risk of death from all causes (risk ratio) [HR], 0.88; Pg <0.001), died of CVD (HR, 0.83; Pg = .006) and trace (HR, 0.79; Pg = 0.037), during a mean follow-up of 11 years, after adjustment by sex; weight; height; smoking status; physical activity; high blood pressure; diabetes; cholesterol level; socioeconomic status; and regular intake of alcohol, meat, tea, fruits and vegetables.
In the 30,650 participants who had cardiac MRI data, the study found that, compared with not drinking coffee, light to moderate and high coffee consumption was associated with a significant increase in systolic and diastolic volume. left and right ventricular end, and with greater left ventricular mass (all Pg <.001).
These differences were small but significant, Simon noted, because they were a cohort of healthy patients who did not have BCV (heart failure, MI, stroke, AF) at first, although some had hypertension or diabetes.
The president of the press conference, Steen Dalby Kristensen, MD, a professor and cardiologist at Aarhus University Hospital, Denmark, a coffee lover, wanted to know if an amount like 2, 3 or 4 cups of coffee was optimal to see these heart benefits, and whether there were differences in the benefits seen with drinking different types of coffee.
The analysis did not identify an optimal coffee intake, Simon said. Compared to not drinking coffee, he continued, drinking instant coffee was associated with a lower risk of mortality from all causes, but not from mortality from CVD or stroke.
Drinking filtered coffee was associated with lower risks for all three outcomes, but there was no significant difference in MI risk. Drinking decaffeinated coffee was associated with a lower risk of mortality from all causes and from cardiovascular disease.
“Decaffeinated coffee contains a small amount of caffeine,” Simon noted. “Something other than caffeine can have this protective impact,” he suggested.
The researchers and Lichtenstein state that they have no relevant financial information.
2021 Congress of the European Society of Cardiology (ESC). Electronic poster presented on August 27, 2021.
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