Regular consumption of coffee or tea appears to be associated with a lower overall risk of stroke and dementia, according to a new Chinese scientific study. Also, in particular, coffee consumption is associated with a lower chance of dementia after a stroke.
Strokes are responsible for about 10% of deaths worldwide. Symptoms of dementia sometimes appear for the first time after a stroke, although there are many other causes of dementia (most commonly Alzheimer’s disease).
Researchers at Tianjin Medical University, published in the medical journal PLoS Medicine, analyzed data from 365,682 people aged 50 to 74, of whom 5,079 developed dementia and 10,053 suffered at least one stroke during the study. took place over a decade (2010-2020).
Those who drank 2-3 cups of coffee or 3-5 cups of tea a day or a combination of 4-6 cups of coffee and tea were found to have the lowest risk of stroke or dementia. Those who drank 2-3 coffees and 2-3 teas a day, on average, had a 32% lower risk of stroke and a 28% lower risk of dementia, compared with those who drank neither coffee nor tea at all.
The researchers concluded that “moderate consumption of coffee and tea alone or in combination is associated with a lower risk of stroke and dementia.”
More steps, less sleep
A second small U.S. study, led by Gregory Markus, an associate professor of cardiology at the University of California, San Francisco, who spoke at an American Heart Association conference, shows that coffee consumption can have both beneficial and detrimental effects. .
On the one hand, coffee can increase cardiac arrhythmia and reduce the duration of sleep, while on the other hand it can stimulate physical activity. The study, conducted on 100 adults with a mean age of 38 years, half of whom were randomly selected to drink coffee for 14 days, found that coffee was associated with a 54% increase in abnormal heart contractions.
Also on the days they drank coffee, the participants took at least 1,000 extra steps compared to the days they did not drink. Coffee drinkers, on the other hand, slept an average of 36 minutes less at night. Each additional cup of coffee was associated with almost 600 extra steps per day and 18 minutes of sleep less.
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