Coffee lovers, rejoice! It turns out your morning cup can do a whole lot more than help you wake up. In a new study, a team of scientists found that drinking coffee correlated with an astounding seven percent decrease in heart failure and an eight percent decrease in stroke, for every cup consumed per week.
To obtain these findings, the scientists used machine learning to analyze existing data from a long-term study on diet and cardiovascular health. They then tested the findings by comparing them against research from traditional analysis. The results were consistent.
While studies like these cannot definitively prove cause and effect, they do shed new insight by highlighting observed associations. For coffee lovers, that may be proof enough.
Physicians have long known that coffee is loaded with disease-fighting antioxidants, but many stop short of calling it healthy. This new data may help move the needle on that, but the story isn't so simple.
Coffee contains more than 1,000 compounds that can impact health some positively, some negatively. Previous research found that coffee contains acrylamide, a possibly carcinogenic compound triggered by high temperatures.
Still, the new study gives us a more full-bodied understanding of coffees health benefits. It also reaffirms some existing research. For example, a study from 2012 showed that people who consistently drank at least three cups per day were less likely to die from stroke, heart disease, diabetes and other conditions.
Other studies have found that coffee may reduce the risk of certain cancers, Parkinsons disease, cirrhosis and more mundane conditions, like headaches and cavities.
With all this in mind, you might savor that next cup of joe just a little more but doctors still advise following the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recommendation to drink no more than 400 milligrams (roughly four to five cups) of coffee per day.
