A Swedish study published in the March 10, 2011 edition of Stroke claims that regular coffee consumption can reduce risk of stroke in women by up to 25%.
“Results from our study in women showed that consumption of 1 to 5 cups of coffee per day was associated with a 22 to 25 percent lower risk of stroke, compared with consumption of less than 1 cup a day,” – Susanna Larsson, lead researcher, National Institute of Environmental Medicine, Karolinska Institute in Stockholm
Larsson added that although positive, these are early findings and should not cause women to change their coffee-drinking habits.
The study was large, based on data from 34,670 women, aged 49 to 83, who took part in the Swedish Mammography Cohort, which looked for associations between diet, lifestyle and disease.
It’s Not All Roses:
In a study released in the November 2, 2010 edition of Neurology, it was reported that coffee consumption increases the risk of ischemic stroke onset immediately after ingestion. The effect is magnified particularly among infrequent drinkers.
The study, led by Elizabeth Mostofsky, MPH, from Harvard Medical School in Boston, Massachusetts, provides new information that may be useful in stroke prevention and is in line with what is already known about the physiologic effects of coffee.
Mostofsky found that risk of stroke increased two-fold in the hour after drinking a cup of coffee. The increased risk returned to baseline within a 2-hour window, which investigators say strengthens the possibility of a causal relationship. The effect was most pronounced in those that consumed, on average, fewer than one cup of coffee per day. The risk of stroke in those that consume more than one cup per day was substantially less than that in infrequent drinkers.
Researchers have suggested that the increase is likely linked to the effect caffeine has on the body, including rapidly increasing epinephrine release, blood pressure, and insulin sensitivity.
Effect of Caffeine on the Body:
Caffeine has systemic effects on the body. These include the following on the circulatory system:
- stimulated heart, respiratory and central nervous system
- increase in level of fatty acids in the blood which increases its viscosity
- raises blood pressure
Interestingly, the study showed that tea actually slightly reduces the incidence of stroke in the same period. Cola was shown to have no effect. The researchers speculated this was because neither beverage contained caffeine levels as high as that found in coffee.
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