Many of our daily routines include strong morning brews, regular workplace tea breaks, and coffee dates, among other things. We’re a caffeine-obsessed society; even during the previous shutdown, when cafés were only allowed to serve takeout, lines of coffee-lovers snaked down our main streets.
However, a recent study reveals that your daily caffeine levels may be keeping you healthy as well as keeping you alert. A recent study has shown a link between normal caffeine use, such as coffee and tea, and a reduced risk of stroke and dementia.
The study monitored 365,000 participants aged 50 to 74 for nearly a decade, making it the biggest of its type. Throughout the course of the study, 5,079 people got dementia, and 10,053 people had at least 1 stroke. Dr. Yuan Zhang and his team discovered that those who consumed 2 to 3 cups of coffee (or 3 to 5 cups of tea) per day had a decreased chance of stroke or dementia. According to the findings, medium caffeine use reduces the risk of dementia to 1 in 100 and reduces the chance of stroke to 1 in 50.
After all, this isn’t the first study to look at the health advantages of coffee. People who consume more coffee are much less likely to get hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), the most frequent form of primary liver cancer, according to a comprehensive study published in 2017. A research published in the British Medical Journal early this year indicated that strong coffee users are 16% less likely to die from advanced prostate cancer.
“There’s new research also coming through that [suggests] coffee and the compounds it contains might have a positive effect on our gut microbes. And we know that having a diverse, high number of gut microbes is beneficial for our health in lots of different ways. Caffeine is not necessarily essential for a healthy balance in day to day life. We know, for example, that coffee contains a nutrient called potassium, which we know is beneficial for our blood pressure,” explains dietician Helen Bond.
