Honestly, you probably received caffeine from coffee while you were still in the womb. Italians simply can’t live without it! While many assume that coffee is bad for you, research suggests otherwise. Earlier this week, new research was presented at the European Society of Cardiology Congress.
The study has been peer-reviewed and the author is Dr. Judit Simon of the Heart and Vascular Centre, Semmelweis University, in Budapest, Hungary.
The research aimed to find the correlation between usual coffee intake and heart attacks, strokes, and death. The participants included 68,629 individuals, all of which did not have heart disease.The author of the study explained, “To our knowledge, this is the largest study to systematically assess the cardiovascular effects of regular coffee consumption in a population without diagnosed heart disease.” 55.8% of these individuals were women, and the average age of the participants was 56.2.
These participants were divided into three specific groups regarding the frequency of their coffee consumption. The groups included the following in no specific order:
- Group 1: none (did not drink coffee regularly, 22.1%),
- Group 2: light-to-moderate (0.5 to 3 cups/day, 58.4%),
- Group 3: and high (more than 3 cups/day, 19.5%).
Dr. Simon explained, “Our results suggest that regular coffee consumption is safe, as even high daily intake was not associated with adverse cardiovascular outcomes and all-cause mortality after a follow-up of 10 to 15 years.”
External factors including smoking, age, sex, weight, height, physical activity, diabetes, high blood pressure, cholesterol level, socioeconomic status, and usual intake of alcohol, meat, tea, fruit, and vegetables were all considered. The analyses were adjusted based on these factors.
When compared to individuals who do not consume coffee, participants who were considered “light-to-moderate” coffee drinkers, were associated with a 12% decrease in the risk of all-cause deaths,. Furthermore, they were also associated with a 17% lower risk of death from cardiovascular disease, and a 21% lower risk of incident stroke.
The author of the study revealed the implications of this data by explaining, “0.5 to 3 cups of coffee per day was independently associated with lower risks of stroke, death from cardiovascular disease, and death from any cause.”

References
1Abstract title: Association of daily coffee consumption with cardiovascular health – Results from the UK Biobank.
2Press conference: “Heart health made easy” on Thursday 26 August from 17:00 to 18:00 CEST.