Like many of you, I love my morning coffee. The aroma as it brews, the rich taste of the first sip...but like many, I often wonder what this habit is doing to my body.
Throughout the years, I have been told by doctors to avoid coffee for best heart health. But I never thought to question this advice until recently…have we been duped for decades?
Researchers have sought to find the truth about coffee's role in health, since coffee is such a favored beverage around the world. Older data suggested that drinking coffee contributed to aortic stiffness (when the aorta, which is the largest blood vessel in the human body, becomes less and less flexible). Aortic stiffness can contribute to the risk of cardiovascular disease.
Newer research contradicts this. A study conducted by Queen Mary University of London in the United Kingdom found that even people who drink a significant amount of coffee each day (up to 25 cups!) do not experience arterial stiffness and the corresponding increased risk of cardiovascular disease.
What the research actually shows:
The most recent findings are in and are great news for people who enjoy starting their morning with an aromatic cup of coffee. New research points to the following:
- Drinking more coffee every day can dramatically cut a person's risk for heart failure. In fact, not one, not two, but three cups of coffee a day cut the risks for heart attack or stroke by a third. This is amazing news for heart patients and coffee lovers alike! (Keep in mind that too much caffeine can cause problems such as jitteriness, and sleep problems, which we want to avoid.) If your personal caffeine quota for the day is reached, simply switch to decaf.
- Coffee is rich in antioxidants and beneficial plant phytochemicals that decrease inflammation, which aid the heart and overall health. In the increasingly toxic world we live in, who couldn't benefit from more anti-inflammatory food sources in the diet?
- Caffeinated coffee reduces the risk of heart failure by up to 12 percent per cup. These recent studies considered three major heart diseases (coronary artery disease, heart failure and stroke) and compared participants who drank one, two, or more than three cups a day with people who drank zero coffee in their evaluation.
- Three different studies suggest that coffee's potential heart health benefits are found when it is consumed plain black (without toxic creamers and sugar additives) as part of an overall healthy dietary plan.
Hold onto your mug...coffee may be just what the doctor has ordered. We may just need to order more Cardiology Coffee to up our heart health game!
