- Drinking just one cup of coffee a week can help prevent premature death, according to a new study.
- Heart attack survivors may especially benefit from drinking coffee, the researchers found.
- People with a history of stroke, however, were better off drinking a lot of green tea, the data suggest.
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There is even more evidence that coffee can be good for your health.
Drinking coffee regularly, even in small amounts, is linked to a lower risk of early death, especially for heart attack survivors, but also for healthy adults, according to research published on February 4 in Stroke, an American Heart newspaper. Association.
Researchers at Osaka University, Tsukuba University and Hokkaido University in Japan analyzed data from more than 46,000 Japanese adults, tracking their tea and coffee consumption habits and health outcomes.
They found that, in general, those who drank at least one cup of coffee a week were 14% less likely to die from any cause during the study. For heart attack survivors, the effect was even stronger, reducing the risk of early death by 22%.
Read More: Refined carbohydrates like white bread, pasta and sweets may increase the risk of premature death, a study found
The only group that did not seem to benefit from coffee consumption was people with a history of stroke. The researchers found that they benefit most from drinking a lot of green tea – at least seven cups a day reduce the risk of early death by 62%.
For people with no history of stroke, green tea does not seem to make a difference in health outcomes.
Skip the milk and sugar
It is not clear in this study why green tea and coffee can be beneficial. The study results are observational, so they do not show that drinking these drinks can directly cause improvements in health.
A key factor, however, is that both coffee and tea are usually consumed without milk or sugar in Japan, which can be important to maximize benefits.
“The healthiest way to prepare these drinks is without an unnecessary amount of added sugar,” said Dr. Hiroyasu Iso, co-author of the study and professor of public health at Osaka University, in a press release.
Coffee and tea bring many benefits, according to research
Previous studies suggest that coffee and tea (of all types) are rich in phytonutrients, plant-based compounds that are good for health.
A recent study found that tea can help lower blood pressure, since it is rich in a specific type of micronutrients called flavonoids (also found in apples and berries).
Coffee is also rich in healthy nutrients, with high levels of antioxidants that can decrease inflammation and reduce the risk of
heart disease
, studies suggest.
Both coffee and tea contain some caffeine, which can bring health benefits, such as more energy and a healthy metabolism, but also side effects like nausea or nervousness in high doses. The caffeine in tea, however, is low enough and is unlikely to cause health problems.
Extensive research has found it safe to drink up to five cups of coffee a day for good health.