Boston/Berlin (dpa) - Women who enjoy drinking coffee may be
lowering their risk of suffering a stroke, new US research suggests.
Women who drank five to seven cups of coffee a week were 12 per
cent less likely to have a stroke than were those who downed just one
cup a month, the study among 83,000 women revealed.
The survey was carried out over a 24-year period by Harvard
Medical School and Harvard School of Public Health in Boston and the
findings published in the March issue of the journal Circulation.
According to the German experts on stroke prevention in Berlin,
the benefit does not appear to come from caffeine. Those who drank
tea and other caffeinated drinks did not experience the same
reduction in stroke risk, said Professor Martin Grond of the German
Stroke Society.
It seems the positive health effects of coffee-drinking come from
antioxidants in the beverage which lower inflammation and improve
blood vessel function.
Taking into consideration factors such as cigarette and alcohol
consumption, researchers found that healthy women who drank two to
three cups of normal caffeinated coffee a day had, on average, a 19
per cent lower risk for any kind of stroke than did women who drank
less than one cup a month. Drinking four or more cups a day lowered
the risk by 20 per cent.
At the same time, the study confirmed that the beneficial effects
of coffee only apply to otherwise healthy people. Those with
complaints such insomnia, anxiety, high blood pressure and cardiac
complications should be aware that coffee consumption was likely to
worsen their condition, said Grond.
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