As I sit having my morning coffee, I was pleased to see this headline in my inbox: People consuming three to five cups of coffee a day have lowest risk of clogging their arteries.
According to new research published in Heart - people who drink a moderate amount of coffee daily are less likely to develop clogged arteries that could lead to heart attacks.
People consuming three to five cups a day had the least risk of coronary calcium in their arteries- which is a marker of heart disease.
This has been an area of debate with some research showing a potential increase in heart disease risk associated with drinking coffee.
So how could your cup of java reduce risk? Coffee consumption has been associated with improved insulin sensitivity and therefore reduced risk of type 2 diabetes. On the other hand, it has also been linked to increased cholesterol concentrations and heightened blood pressure.
25,138 men and women - average age of 41 - who had no signs of heart disease participated.
The researchers estimated the CAC (calcium artery) score ratios associated with different levels of coffee consumption compared with no coffee consumption and took into account such as education level, physical activity level, smoking status, BMI, alcohol consumption, family history of heart disease and consumption of fruits, vegetables, and red and processed meats.
They categorised coffee consumption as none, less than one cup a day, one to three cups a day, three to five per day and at least five or more per day.
The researchers found the CAC was 13.4% amongst the whole group of people and the average consumption of coffee was 1.8 cups per day.
The calcium ratios were 0.77 for people who had less than one cup per day, 0.66 for those having one to three cups every day, 0.59 for those consuming three to five cups per day, and 0.81 for people having at least five cups or more every day compared with non coffee drinkers. The lower the score, the lower the risk. This is what is called a U shaped curve.
There was no difference in results regardless of age, sex, smoking status, alcohol consumption, and status of obesity, diabetes, hypertension, and hypercholesterolemia.
Participants drinking three to five cups per day having the lowest prevalence of arteries that had clogged up.
Why would this be? Researchers say chronic coffee consumption had a possible link to reduced risk of type 2 diabetes, a strong risk factor for atherosclerosis, and that coffee drinking might improve insulin sensitivity and ß-cell function.
In a second study published in JAMA it was found that eating nuts and peanuts was associated with a reduced risk of overall death and death from cardiovascular disease across different ethnic groups and among those with low socioeconomic status. That is good news as peanuts, because of their affordability, may be a cost-effective measure to improve cardiovascular health.
As the authors pointed out, nuts are rich in nutrients and peanuts, which are legumes, have nutrients similar to tree nuts.
There were two large study groups:
- 71,764 low-income black and white men and women living in the southeastern United States
- 134,265 Chinese men and women living in Shanghai, China. In the U.S. group, about 50 % of the nut/peanut consumption was peanuts and in the participant groups from China only peanut consumption was assessed.
Study results indicate that nut intake was associated with reduced risk of total mortality and cardiovascular disease (CVD) death in all three groups. In the U.S. study participant group, there was a reduced risk of total mortality of 21%for individuals who ate the most peanuts. In the Chinese study participant groups, the risk reduction for death associated with high nut intake was 17 % in a combined analysis. An association between high nut intake and reduced risk of ischemic heart disease was seen for all the ethnic groups.
This association was observed among both men and women and across each racial/ethnic group and was independent of metabolic conditions, smoking, alcohol consumption and BMI. We observed no significant associations between nut/peanut consumption and risk of death due to cancer and diabetes mellitus.
