Heart disease: Doctor explains how to reduce risk
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Participants in the largest-ever study of the popular beverage and its effects on health were divided into three groups based on their coffee intake. No coffee, light to moderate and high. 58 percent of participants were in the light to moderate intake group whereas 22 percent were in the no coffee group and 20 percent in high.
The data collected by the UK Biobank- a biomedical database which holds genetic and health information on over 460,000 individuals, found some amazing results.
After adjusting for a range of other interfering factors that could influence health, researchers found that light to moderate coffee consumption was associated with a 12 percent lower risk of death from any cause.
Even more specifically, there was a 17 percent lower risk of death from cardiovascular disease and 21 percent lower risk of stroke.
“Our results suggest that regular coffee consumption is safe, as even high daily intake was not associated with adverse cardiovascular outcomes and all-cause mortality after a follow-up of 10 to 15 years.”
So what is meant by light to moderate intake?
Well- when separating participants into the three study groups those in the light to moderate group drank anything between half a cup to three cups a day.
Those in the high intake group drank more than three.
Dr Simon continued to say: “Moreover, 0.5 to three cups of coffee per day was independently associated with lower risks of stroke, death from cardiovascular disease, and death from any cause.”
In order to monitor the link between coffee consumption and heart structure, researchers used MRI scans.
When compared to those that did not drink coffee regularly, daily consumers had healthier sized and better functioning hearts, said Dr Simon.
The precise reasoning behind this reduced risk is not known, yet Dr Simon suggested that it might be “partly explained by positive alterations in cardiac structure and function.”
Cardiovascular diseases (CVD) can come in multiple different forms.
However, the four main types include:
- Heart disease
- Strokes
- Peripheral arterial disease
- Aortic disease.
All four affect the heart and or blood vessels and can be extremely damaging to organs like the brain, heart, kidneys and eyes.
Although drinking coffee is not one, there are a number of ‘risk factors’ involved that might increase your chance of CVD.
These risk factors include smoking, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, diabetes and being overweight.
Therefore, some healthy lifestyle changes such as increasing exercise and reducing the amount you smoke can also reduce your risk of CVD.
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