Loving coffee 'could be good for your heart'

Do you need a good cup of coffee to get you going in the morning and a top up or two to get you through the day? Well it seems that you could benefit from more than just a caffeine jolt as drinking three cups of coffee a day has been found to reduce the risk of heart disease.

New research has found that coffee contains antioxidants that help to protect your brain and heart, meaning that three shot skinny latte you grab on the way to work might be doing more than waking you up.

The study from the Institute for Scientific Information on Coffee looked at data taken from more than a million people. It discovered that women are most likely to benefit from the heart-protecting antioxidants.

Reviewing previous studies found that drinking a few cups of coffee every day could reduce the risk of strokes and heart attacks by around 21 per cent. These illnesses affect millions of people every year, so this could be great news.

It seems that three to five cups provided the best health results, but the lower end of the scale had greater benefits. The researchers didn’t state whether decaf coffee gave the same effects, though, although you might want to give this a go if three cups of the caffeinated beverage is likely to leave you jittery!

Despite these findings, the British Heart Foundation has said that people probably shouldn’t start downing extra cups of coffee every day and that the study is definitely not a “green light” to do so.

Maureen Talbot, senior cardiac nurse at the British Heart Foundation, said: “It is important to remember that maintaining a healthy lifestyle is what really matters if you want to keep your heart healthy, not how much coffee you drink.

“While this study may suggest that drinking three cups of coffee a day could offer some protection from heart and circulatory disease, it shouldn’t be taken as a green light to drink lots of caffeine.”

She went on to say that in order to maintain good health, you need to look at a number of different factors, including exercise and diet, you can’t just rely on your morning cup of coffee.

While the effects of coffee on our hearts may not be totally clear just yet, there’s no denying that it can really make the mornings easier!

http://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/health/drinking-three-cups-coffee-day-11961592

http://www.inquisitr.com/3558216/even-more-evidence-that-coffee-is-good-for-you/

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/drinking-three-cups-coffee-day-8941100