Drinking coffee reduces the risk for cardiovascular disease, according to the results of a study following more than 41,000 women.
Drinking coffee reduces the risk for cardiovascular disease, according to the results of a study.
"Coffee is the major source of dietary antioxidants," write Lene Frost Andersen, MD, from the University of Oslo in Norway, and colleagues.
"The association between coffee consumption and risk of death from diseases associated with inflammatory or oxidative stress has not been studied."
Iowa Women's Health Study followed more than 41,000 women for 15 years, which was reported in the May issue of the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.
"Consumption of coffee, a major source of dietary antioxidants, may inhibit inflammation and thereby reduce the risk of cardiovascular and other inflammatory diseases in postmenopausal women," the authors write.
Study limitations include possible reverse causality and residual confounding.
"Our results are consistent with a protective effect of intake of 1 - 3 cups of coffee per day on total death and death from cardiovascular and other inflammatory diseases in a group of postmenopausal women," the authors conclude.
"If our observation is reproduced in other studies and proves to be causal, the implications are considerable, being that coffee is the second most widely consumed drink worldwide."
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