- According to a new study, only one cup of coffee a week can drink.
- Survivors of heart attacks may particularly benefit from drinking coffee, researchers have found.
- However, people with a history of stroke were better off drinking lots of green tea, data suggested.
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There is even more evidence that coffee can be good for your health.
Drinking coffee regularly, even in small amounts, has been linked to a lower risk of premature death, especially for survivors of heart attacks, but also for healthy adults, according to research published Feb. 4 in Stroke, a journal of the American Heart Association.
Researchers from Osaka University, Tsukuba University and Hokkaido University in Japan looked at data from more than 46,000 Japanese adults and tracked their drinking and coffee drinking habits and health outcomes.
They found that those who drank at least one cup of coffee a week were generally 14% less likely to die from any cause during the study. For survivors of a heart attack, the effect was even stronger, reducing the risk of early death by 22%.
Read more: Refined carbohydrates such as white bread, pasta and pastries can increase the risk of premature death, a study found
The one group that apparently did not benefit from drinking coffee were people with a history of stroke. Researchers have found that they benefit from drinking a lot of green tea – at least seven cups a day reduced their risk of premature death by 62%.
For people without a history of stroke, green tea does not seem to make a difference to health outcomes.
Skip the milk and sugar
It is not clear from this study why green tea and coffee may be beneficial. The results of the study are observational, and therefore do not show that drinking the drink can directly cause health improvements.
An important factor, however, is that coffee and tea in Japan are often consumed without milk or sugar, which can be important to maximize the benefits.
“The healthiest way to prepare these drinks is without unnecessary amount of added sugars,” said dr. Hiroyasu Iso, co-author of the study and a professor of public health at the University of Osaka, said in a press release.
According to research, coffee and tea have many benefits
Previous studies suggest that coffee and tea (of all kinds) contain many phytonutrients, plant-based compounds that are good for our health.
A recent study found that tea can lower blood pressure as it is rich in a specific type of micronutrient called flavanols (also in apples and berries).
Coffee is also rich in healthy nutrients, with high levels of antioxidants that can reduce inflammation and reduce the risk
heart disease
, research suggests.
Both coffee and tea contain caffeine, which can have health benefits such as more energy and a healthy metabolism, but also side effects such as nausea or restlessness in high doses. However, the caffeine in tea is low enough that it is unlikely to cause health problems.
Extensive research has found that it is safe to drink up to five cups of coffee a day for good health.