Coffee is “not as bad” for the heart and circulatory as previously thought, a new study says. The study, presented Monday at the British Cardiovascular Society in Manchester, says that drinking coffee does not increase stiffness in the arteries, despite previous beliefs, including in people who drink up to 25 cups a day.
As per members who conducted the study, “Despite the huge popularity of coffee worldwide, different reports could put people off from enjoying it. While we can’t prove a causal link in this study, our research indicates coffee isn’t as bad for the arteries as previous studies would suggest."
Coffee consumption was categorized into three groups for the study. Those who drink less than one cup a day, those who drink between one and three cups a day and those who drink more than three. People who consumed more than 25 cups of coffee a day were excluded, but no increased stiffening of arteries was associated with those who drank up to this high limit when compared with those who drank less than one cup a day.
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The associations between drinking coffee and artery stiffness measures were corrected for contributing factors like age, gender, ethnicity, smoking status, height, weight, how much alcohol someone drank, what they ate and high blood pressure.
Of the 8,412 participants who underwent MRI heart scans and infrared pulse wave tests, the research showed that moderate and heavy coffee drinkers were most likely to be male, smoke, and consume alcohol regularly.
Understanding the impact that coffee has on our heart and circulatory system is something that researchers and the media have had brewing for some time.
Despite the new findings, Prof. Metin Avkiran, associate medical director at the British Heart Foundation, noted there are conflicting studies on coffee and its effects on the body.
“There are several conflicting studies saying different things about coffee, and it can be difficult to filter what we should believe and what we shouldn’t. This research will hopefully put some of the media reports in perspective, as it rules out one of the potential detrimental effects of coffee on our arteries,” Avkiran said in a statement.