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Tuesday, June 30, 2015. Findings from studies presented at a Satellite Symposium on Coffee and Cardiovascular Disease Mortality held on May 14, 2015 during the European Association for Cardiovascular Prevention & Rehabilitation's 2015 Congress in Lisbon add evidence to an association between drinking coffee and a reduced risk of cardiovascular disease and related mortality. The presentations, by researchers Esther Lopez-Garcia, Alicja Wolk and Carlo La Vecchia, were summarized by the not-for-profit Institute for Scientific Information on Coffee in a publication titled "Coffee & Health."
Most notable were the results of a meta-analysis published in the American Journal of Epidemiology last year which concluded that, compared to not drinking coffee, consuming three cups per day was associated with up to a 21% reduction in the risk of dying from cardiovascular disease among 997,464 subjects. For all-cause mortality, the greatest protective effect was found in association with four cups daily. Another meta-analysis published in 2014, which appeared in the journal Circulation, suggests that an optimal amount for protection against cardiovascular disease is three cups per day.
In the European Journal of Epidemiology, a meta-analysis that included over a million subjects found that three to five cups of coffee per day was associated with the most significant benefit. When the study-specific highest category of coffee drinking was compared with the lowest (defined as no more than one cup of coffee per day), a 12% lower risk of all cause mortality was determined, based on data from all 23 included studies. For cardiovascular mortality, those in the highest coffee drinking category experienced an 11% lower risk as calculated among 17 studies adjusted for smoking.
Coffee drinking has also been associated with protection against diabetes, which significantly increases cardiovascular disease risk. A 25% lower risk of type 2 diabetes was associated with drinking three to four cups of coffee per day in comparison with lesser amounts in a study published in Archives of Internal Medicine.
Protective mechanisms for coffee against the risk of cardiovascular mortality remain uncertain; however, the beverage's antioxidant and anti-inflammatory effects are likely to play a role. "It is important to acknowledge factors which might have a protective effect against cardiovascular disease mortality," commented Doutor António Vaz Carneiro of the Faculdade de Medicine da Universidade de Lisboa. "Moderate coffee consumption could play a significant role in reducing cardiovascular disease mortality risk which would impact health outcomes and healthcare spending across Europe."
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