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Coffee, the second most popular drink in the world may also be
the one of the most healthy. The latest news on coffee and health is
that drinking one to three cups of coffee per day might help
save postmenopausal women's hearts.
A 15-year study published in The American Journal of Clinical
Nutrition shows fewer deaths from heart disease or other
noncancerous inflammatory diseases for postmenopausal women
who reported drinking at least one to three daily cups of
coffee.
Coffee is a major dietary source of antioxidants, which may curb
inflammation and heart disease, write Andersen and colleagues,
stressing that their findings need to be confirmed.
The study conducted by researchers from the nutrition department
at Norway's University of Oslo included 27,312 postmenopausal women
who took part in the Iowa Women's Health study.
When the study began in 1986, participants were 55-69 years old
and hadn't been diagnosed with conditions including heart disease,
diabetes, or cancer (except for skin cancer).
The women completed a 127-item survey about their daily coffee
consumption, cigarette and alcohol use, and other health habits
(including diet and exercise). None of the women were asked to
drink more or less coffee or change anything else in their lives
for the study's sake.
They were followed for 15 years. During that time, a total of
1,411 participants died of heart disease, 1,733 died of cancer, and
1,211 died of other diseases.
The women who had reported drinking
one to three daily cups of coffee (or more) at the study's start
were less likely to have died of heart disease or other
inflammatory diseases (but not cancer) during the study.
Women who reported drinking one to three daily cups of coffee at
the study's start were 24 per cent less likely to die of heart
disease during the study, compared with those who didn't drink
coffee.
Women who reported drinking one to three daily cups of coffee at
the study's start were also 28 per cent less likely to die of other
noncancerous inflammatory diseases, compared with those who
didn't drink coffee, the study shows.
Cancer deaths did not show any association with coffee
consumption.
Those results are adjusted for other factors and
"were not repeated for other beverages, including tea, fruit juice,
sugar-sweetened drinks, diet soda, and skim, low-fat, and
whole milk," write Andersen and colleagues.
The researchers call for caution in interpreting the results
explaining that the study doesn't prove that coffee consumption was
solely responsible for the findings.
The data also doesn't show
antioxidant levels in the women's coffee.
In conclusion, the researchers say results are consistent with a
protective effect of intake of one to three cups of coffee per day
on total death and death from cardiovascular and other
inflammatory diseases in a group of postmenopausal
women. | 
