Have another cup of coffee—or eight—today.
A new study, funded in part by the British Heart Foundation, says that drinking excessive amounts of coffee is no worse for your heart than having a single cup. That flies in the face of some other research that suggests people try to step back from their caffeine addictions.
Over 8,000 people in the UK took part in the study, which looked to test theories that drinking coffee could make arteries more stiff, making the heart work harder and increasing the odds of a heart attack or stroke. In the end, though, researchers at Queen Mary University of London found that people who drink more than three cups again, including a subset that consumes more than 25 cups a day, experienced no increased stiffening of the arteries compared to those who had less than one cup per day.
All the participants in the study received MRI heart scans and infrared pulse wave tests. External factors such as age, smoking status, blood pressure, weight, diet and alcohol consumption were also factored into the results.
“There are several conflicting studies saying different things about coffee, and it can be difficult to filter what we should believe and what we shouldn’t,” said Metin Avkiran, associate medical director at the British Heart Foundation. “This research will hopefully put some of the media reports in perspective, as it rules out one of the potential detrimental effects of coffee on our arteries.”
While the study does conflict with some reports that express health concerns about coffee, it stops short of supporting others that theorize coffee helps you live longer.
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