Good News For Coffee Drinkers?

Coffee reduces the risk of heart disease, Parkinson's and Type 2 diabetes.

13:02 19 November 2015

Drinking up to five cups of coffee a day could ward off certain diseases including Parkinson's and Type 2 diabetes, scientists say. Their study also concluded that drinking coffee lowers the risk of suicide.

 

Lead scientist Ming Ding, of Harvard School of Public Health in the US, said: ‘Bioactive compounds in coffee reduce insulin resistance and systematic inflammation.

 

‘That could explain some of our findings. However, more studies are needed to investigate the biological mechanisms producing these effects.’

 

The results were based on a pooled analysis of three large on-going studies with a total of 208,501 participants, who were asked to complete food questionnaires every four years for around 30 years.

 

Co-author Professor Frank Hu, also of Harvard School of Public Health, said: ‘This study provides further evidence that moderate consumption of coffee may confer health benefits in terms of reducing premature death due to several diseases.’

But Emily Reeve, senior cardiac nurse at the British Heart Foundation, said: ‘It is important to remember that maintaining a healthy lifestyle is what really matters if you want to keep your heart healthy, not how much coffee you drink.

 

‘Previous research suggests that drinking up to five cups of coffee a day is not harmful to your cardiovascular health, and this study supports that. But more research is needed to fully understand how coffee affects our body and what it is in coffee that may affect a person’s risk of heart attack or stroke.’