Coffee Drinkers Have Reduced Risk of Strokes

During this study, the women involved who drank more than a cup of coffee a day had a 22% to 25% lower risk of having a stroke than those who drank less, according to findings reported Thursday in Stroke: Journal of the American Heart Association. In America, strokes are the third leading cause of death, following behing heart disease and cancer.

A Swedish researcher, Susanna Larsson of the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, conducted this experiement by following 34,670 women between the ages of 49-83 for approximately ten years. The questionnaire that was completed by these women did not ask as to whether their coffee was regular or decaffeinated, but the authors from the magazine say that the number of people who drink decaf in Sweden is very low.

The findings from this study have been added to the other research involving coffee appearing to have hidden health perks. Another study done by Larsson back in 2008 on men who drank coffee or tea also had similar results.
Being one of the most popular drinks in the world, coffee contains large amounts of antioxidants that can improve health. Other research done has suggested coffee can help prevent cognitive decline, can boost vision and heart health, and can reduce risk of liver cancer.
In the recent study done, the women participated in the Swedish Mammography Cohort, a longterm investigation of the association between diet, lifestyle and disease development. None of them had cardiovascular disease or cancer back in the beginning in 1997. Between January 1998 and December 2008, 1,680 strokes were reported.

The results are consistent with findings on 83,076 women in the Nurses Health Study in the USA two years ago. In that study, women who drank four or more cups of coffee a day had a 20% reduced risk of stroke, compared with women who had less than one cup per month. That study distinguished between caffeinated and decaf, showing the decaf group had a slightly lower risk.

In the new study, current smokers saw the least amount of reduction in stroke risk, the authors say, compared with women who never smoked or had given up smoking.