Coffee Cuts Stroke Risk in Women

Biggest Benefit Seen in Women Drinking 4 or More Cups of Coffee a Day
By Caroline Wilbert
WebMD Health News
Reviewed by Elizabeth Klodas, MD, FACC

Feb. 16, 2009 -- Coffee addicts: Your habit may actually be good for you.

Regular coffee consumption reduces the risk of stroke in women, according to a new study. The study, published in Circulation: Journal of the American Heart Association, shows that women who drank four or more cups of coffee a day had a 20% reduced risk of stroke compared to women who had less than one cup per month. Drinking two to three cups per day reduced risk by 19%. Drinking a cup five to seven times a week reduced risk by 12%.

Researchers analyzed data on 83,076 women who participated in the Nurses' Health Study. Participants began the study in 1980 with no history of stroke, heart disease, diabetes, or cancer. Every two to four years, the women filled out food frequency questionnaires about their diets. During the study, which lasted 24 years, 2,280 strokes were documented.

The benefits of coffee are much more significant for nonsmokers. For women who had never smoked or quit the habit, drinking four cups or more of coffee a day was associated with a 43% reduction in stroke risk. For women who smoked, drinking four cups or more was associated with only a 3% reduction in risk.

“The potential benefits of coffee cannot counterbalance the detrimental effects smoking has on health,” Esther Lopez-Garcia, lead author of the study and assistant professor of preventive medicine at the Universidad Autonoma de Madrid, Spain, says in a news release.

(More here.)