Researchers from South Korea have conducted a new study on the health effects of coffee. According to the results, people who drink three to five cups of coffee daily are less likely to have their arteries clogged by calcium deposits.
The coronary arteries are the vessels responsible for transporting oxygenated blood to the heart muscle.
Dr. Eliseo Guallar, one of the researchers involved in the study, explained that the participants who drank an average o three to four cups of coffee had a lower risk of developing clogged arteries, compared to those who were not coffee drinkers.
Dr. Eliseo Guallar is an epidemiologist at the Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health in Baltimore, Maryland. He said that the participants who drank only one cup a day had an increased risk of having a cardiovascular disease.
There are studies suggesting that coffee is actually bad for the heart, but more recent ones have linked the caffeinated beverage with beneficial effects on the cardiovascular health.
A number of 36 previous studies have concluded that drinking coffee was associated with a lower risk of developing heart disease, while other studies showed that coffee can reduce the risk of type 2 diabetes.
On the other hand, there are studies which show that coffee can actually increase the levels of bad cholesterol in the body and can also increase blood pressure.
In the new study, the researchers analyzed the data of more than 25,000 men and women who had no signs of any cardiovascular conditions.
The participants were given questionnaires to complete in which they were asked about their drinking and eating habits. Then, the researchers analyzed their levels of coronary artery calcium using computed tomography scan.
The scientists compared the results of the coronary artery calcium levels with the amount of coffee the participants consumed daily.
The participants were classified as one cup of coffee a day, one to three cups, three to five cups and at least five cups.
Those who consumed three to five cups a day had approximately 40% less calcium deposit in their arteries, compared to those who did not drink any coffee.
Image Source: inhabitat
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