Coffee, tea may prevent strokes: Study

ISLAMABAD: Coffee and tea may help smokers to reduce the risk of getting strokes caused by blockage. Coffee and tea beverages have antioxidant properties and thus their consumption could potentially reduce the risk of stroke.

Coffee is also believed to improve insulin sensitivity.

To examine the associations of coffee and tea consumption with risk of stroke subtypes, researchers in Finland studied 26,556 adult male smokers, aged between 50 and 69 years, who participated in a large cancer prevention study.

The researchers analysed the participants’ diet, including coffee and tea drinking, at the start of the study. None of the men had a history of stroke at the outset.

During 13.6 years of follow-up, there were 2702 cerebral infarctions, 383 intracerebral hemorrhages, 196 subarachnoid hemorrhages, and 84 unspecified strokes.

After taking into account age and the presence of stroke risk factors, the researchers discovered that men who drank 8 or more cups of coffee daily had a 23 percent lower risk of cerebral infarction than those who drank less than 2 cups of coffee daily.

Men who drank 2 or more cups of tea daily had a 21 percent lower risk of this type of stroke relative to men who did not drink tea. No association was found between coffee and tea consumption and intracerebral or subarachnoid hemorrhage.

The findings suggest that high consumption of coffee and tea may reduce the risk of cerebral infarction among men, independent of known cardiovascular risk factors.

These findings were attributed to the fact that coffee and tea contain phenolic compounds with antioxidant properties that may prevent atherosclerosis.

More studies examining the effects of coffee and tea consumptions and possibility of stroke prevention are expected to be done on women and non-smokers.