Written by Joyce Smith, BS. Both caffeinated green tea and coffee consumption were associated with reduced risk of heart attack and stroke for cardiovascular disease survivors but only coffee consumption benefited healthy consumers with no history of heart disease or stroke.
Previous research has examined the benefits of green tea and coffee on heart health in people without a history of cardiovascular disease (CVD) or cancer. Drinking three to five cups of green tea daily have been shown to lower cardiovascular death by 41% among Japanese compared to non-drinkers 1. Coffee, a popular worldwide beverage has been credited with decreasing the risk of all cause and CVD mortality in our general population 2,3. Caffeinated black and green teas are associated with reduced CVD4 while drinking caffeinated coffee had no risk of cardiovascular events5 or death 6, suggesting that these beverages may impact cardiovascular health quite differently. To date no researchers have studied the effect of green tea consumption on the mortality of myocardial infarct (MI) survivors nor the effect of green tea and coffee drinking on stroke survivors.
Researchers7 analyzed data on 46, 213 participants (18, 602 men and 27, 611 women), ages 40 to 79, from the Japan Collaborative Cohort Study for Evaluation of Cancer Risk (JACC study), a study conducted in 45 communities across Japan. After completing self-administered questionnaires that included information about demographics, lifestyle, medical history and diet, people were divided into three groups: those with a history of stroke, those with a history of myocardial infarction (MI), and those with no history of stroke or MI. Data on the amount and frequency of green tea and coffee consumption of participants was then analyzed. A typical cup of green tea contains approximately 100mL (about 3.4 ounces) of liquid; a typical cup of coffee contains approximately 150mL (about 5 oun6ces) of liquid. Researchers sought to determine whether green tea and coffee consumption was linked to mortality among persons with and without stroke or myocardial infarction (MI).
Compared to those who never or rarely drank tea, participants who drank seven or more cups of green tea per day lowered their risk of all-cause mortality by approximately 62%; (5-6 cups/d by 48%; 3-4 cups/d by 44%; 1-2 cups /d by 35% and 1-6 cups /week by 27%). A similar inverse association was seen among tea drinkers who survived an MI but not for those tea drinkers who had no history of stroke or MI.
Compared to non-coffee drinkers, heart attack survivors who drank one cup of coffee a day reduced their overall risk of death by approximately 18%. Also, those without a history of stroke or MI who consumed one or more cups of coffee a week had an approximately 14% lower risk of all-cause mortality compared to non-coffee drinkers. These results suggest that green tea consumption is beneficial for secondary prevention in that it may help prevent further cardiovascular events in survivors, while coffee consumption may be beneficial for primary prevention in that it might help prevent CVD in healthy individuals.
This study is observational and therefore cannot prove causation. Further research is recommended to validate the cardio- and neuroprotective effects of green tea and coffee in both CVD survivors and healthy consumers.
Source: Teramoto, Masayuki, et al. “Green Tea and Coffee Consumption and All-Cause Mortality among Persons with and Without Stroke or Myocardial Infarction.” Stroke (2021): STROKEAHA-120.
© 2021 The Authors. This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial-NoDerivs License, which permits use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided that the original work is properly cited, the use is noncommercial, and no modifications or adaptations are made.
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Posted March 2, 2021.
Joyce Smith, BS, is a degreed laboratory technologist. She received her bachelor of arts with a major in Chemistry and a minor in Biology from the University of Saskatchewan and her internship through the University of Saskatchewan College of Medicine and the Royal University Hospital in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. She currently resides in Bloomingdale, IL.
References:
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- Mukamal KJ, Maclure M, Muller JE, Sherwood JB, Mittleman MA. Tea consumption and mortality after acute myocardial infarction. Circulation. 2002;105:2476–2481. doi: 10.1161/01.cir.0000017201.88994.f7
- Mukamal KJ, Maclure M, Muller JE, Sherwood JB, Mittleman MA. Caffeinated coffee consumption and mortality after acute myocardial infarction. Am Heart J. 2004;147:999–1004. doi: 10.1016/j.ahj.2003.12.038
- Silletta MG, Marfisi R, Levantesi G, Boccanelli A, Chieffo C, Franzosi M, Geraci E, Maggioni AP, Nicolosi G, Schweiger C, et al; GISSI-Prevenzione Investigators. Coffee consumption and risk of cardiovascular events after acute myocardial infarction: results from the GISSI (Gruppo Italiano per lo Studio della Sopravvivenza nell’Infarto miocardico)-Prevenzione trial. Circulation. 2007;116:2944–2951. doi: 10.1161/CIRCULATIONAHA.107.71297
- Teramoto, Masayuki, et al. “Green Tea and Coffee Consumption and All-Cause Mortality among Persons with and Without Stroke or Myocardial Infarction.” Stroke (2021): STROKEAHA-120.
