{"id":11582,"date":"2013-03-18T09:10:21","date_gmt":"2013-03-18T13:10:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/therapytoronto.ca\/news\/?p=11582"},"modified":"2013-06-03T22:27:41","modified_gmt":"2013-06-04T02:27:41","slug":"study-suggests-coffee-green-tea-may-help-lower-stroke-risk","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/therapytoronto.ca\/news\/2013\/03\/study-suggests-coffee-green-tea-may-help-lower-stroke-risk\/","title":{"rendered":"Study suggests coffee, green tea may help lower stroke risk"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>From the American Heart Association press release via ScienceDaily:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p><strong><a href=\"http:\/\/therapytoronto.ca\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/02\/green-tea-canstockphoto8859620.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignright size-full wp-image-10985\" alt=\"green tea\" src=\"http:\/\/therapytoronto.ca\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/02\/green-tea-canstockphoto8859620.jpg\" width=\"290\" height=\"193\" \/><\/a>Green tea and coffee may help lower your risk of having a stroke<\/strong>, especially when both are a regular part of your diet, according to research published in <em>Stroke: Journal of the American Heart Association.<\/em><\/p>\n<p>&#8220;This is the first large-scale study to examine the combined effects of both green tea and coffee on stroke risks,&#8221; said Yoshihiro Kokubo, M.D., Ph.D., F.A.H.A., F.A.C.C., F.E.S.C., lead author of the study at Japan&#8217;s National Cerebral and Cardiovascular Center. &#8220;You may make a small but positive lifestyle change to help lower the risk of stroke by adding daily green tea to your diet.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Researchers asked 83,269 Japanese adults about their green tea and coffee drinking habits, following them for an average 13 years. <strong>They found that the more green tea or coffee people drink, the lower their stroke risks.<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>People who drank <strong>at least one cup of coffee daily had about a 20 percent lower risk<\/strong> of stroke compared to those who rarely drank it.<\/li>\n<li>People who drank <strong>two to three cups of green tea daily had a 14 percent lower risk<\/strong> of stroke and those who had at least four cups had a 20 percent lower risk, compared to those who rarely drank it.<\/li>\n<li>People who drank <strong>at least one cup of coffee or two cups of green tea daily had a 32 percent lower risk of intracerebral hemorrhage<\/strong>, compared to those who rarely drank either beverage. (Intracerebral hemorrhage happens when a blood vessel bursts and bleeds inside the brain. About 13 percent of strokes are hemorrhagic.)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Participants in the study were 45 to 74 years old, almost evenly divided in gender, and were free from cancer and cardiovascular disease.<\/p>\n<p>During the 13-years of follow-up, researchers reviewed participants&#8217; hospital medical records and death certificates, collecting data about heart disease, strokes and causes of death. <strong>They adjusted their findings to account for age, sex and lifestyle factors like smoking, alcohol, weight, diet and exercise.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Green tea drinkers in the study were more likely to exercise compared to non-drinkers.<\/p>\n<p>Previous limited research has shown green tea&#8217;s link to lower death risks from heart disease, but has only touched on its association with lower stroke risks. Other studies have shown inconsistent connections between coffee and stroke risks.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Initial study results showed that drinking more than two cups of coffee daily was linked to increasing coronary heart disease rates in age- and sex-adjusted analysis<\/strong>. But researchers didn&#8217;t find the association after factoring in the effects of cigarette smoking &#8212; underscoring smoking&#8217;s negative health impact on heart and stroke health.<\/p>\n<p><strong>A typical cup of coffee or tea in Japan was approximately six ounces<\/strong>. &#8220;However, our self-reported data may be reasonably accurate, because nationwide annual health screenings produced similar results, and our validation study showed relatively high validity.&#8221; Kokubo said. &#8220;The regular action of drinking tea, coffee, largely benefits cardiovascular health because it partly keeps blood clots from forming.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Tea and coffee are the most popular drinks in the world after water, suggesting that these results may apply in America and other countries.<\/p>\n<p>It&#8217;s unclear how green tea affects stroke risks. A compound group known as catechins may provide some protection. Catechins have an antioxidant anti-inflammatory effect, increasing plasma antioxidant capacity and anti-thrombogenic effects.<\/p>\n<p>Some chemicals in coffee include chlorogenic acid, thus cutting stroke risks by lowering the chances of developing type 2 diabetes.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Further research could clarify how the interaction between coffee and green tea might help further lower stroke risks<\/strong>, Kokubo said.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Co-authors are: Isao Saito, M.D., Ph.D.; Kazumasa Yamagishi, M.D., Ph.D.; Hiroshi Yatsuya, M.D., Ph.D.; Junko Ishihara, Ph.D.; Manami Inoue, M.D., Ph.D.; and Shoichiro Tsugane, M.D., Ph.D.<\/p>\n<p>The study was supported by Grants-in-Aid for Cancer Research and the Third-Term Comprehensive Ten-Year Strategy for Cancer Control from the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare of Japan.<\/p>\n<!-- AddThis Advanced Settings generic via filter on the_content --><!-- AddThis Share Buttons generic via filter on the_content -->","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>From the American Heart Association press release via ScienceDaily: Green tea and coffee may help lower your risk of having a stroke, especially when both are a regular part of&#8230; <a class=\"read-more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/therapytoronto.ca\/news\/2013\/03\/study-suggests-coffee-green-tea-may-help-lower-stroke-risk\/\">Read more &raquo;<\/a><!-- AddThis Advanced Settings generic via filter on get_the_excerpt --><!-- AddThis Share Buttons generic via filter on get_the_excerpt --><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[321,10,339],"tags":[207,182],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/therapytoronto.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11582"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/therapytoronto.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/therapytoronto.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/therapytoronto.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/therapytoronto.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11582"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/therapytoronto.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11582\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13663,"href":"https:\/\/therapytoronto.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11582\/revisions\/13663"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/therapytoronto.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11582"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/therapytoronto.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11582"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/therapytoronto.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11582"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}