Coffee vs tea: Which one raises stroke risk, and which one lowers it

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Which option is healthier for your overall health, a cup of coffee or a cup of tea?

Including increasing energy levels, decreasing inflammation, and lowering the risk of heart disease.

When it comes to your risk of heart attack or stroke, one trend appears to stand out prominently.

A global study of over 25,000 individuals determined that consuming more than four cups of coffee daily heightened the likelihood of stroke by around 40%.

Meanwhile, the same amount of tea reduced the risk by nearly one-fifth.


The researchers believe that regular coffee drinkers may be more susceptible to heart problems, such as high blood pressure, which can significantly raise the risk of stroke.

Researchers recruited approximately 26,950 adults from thirty-two countries worldwide, including the UK and Canada, with nearly half of them being stroke survivors within the past few days.

On average, patients partook in the study just over two and a half days following their stroke.

The average participant’s age was around 61 years, with the majority being men. The majority of patients were also overweight, which is a known risk factor for stroke.

Participants completed questionnaires regarding their personal medical history, dietary habits, physical activity levels, and other factors increasing their risk of stroke, such as smoking and high blood pressure.

They were also asked how many cups per day they consumed of coffee, Japanese or Chinese green tea, black tea, and other types of tea.

Approximately one in five participants drank neither beverage, while close to half opted for tea alone. Approximately 15 percent drank coffee on its own, while nearly one in five consumed both.

Studies indicate that consuming four or more cups of coffee per day may increase the risk of stroke by 37 percent, while drinking the same amount of any type of tea may decrease the risk by 19 percent.

Green tea, including varieties such as Earl Grey and Breakfast teas, was found to be associated with a 27% reduced risk of stroke, while black tea had the lowest overall risk at 29%.

Research has found no connection between consuming three or fewer cups of coffee and an increased risk of stroke.

The researchers observed that an excessive coffee consumption may have such an adverse impact because individuals who consumed such large amounts of coffee were more likely to experience health issues such as high blood pressure and elevated heart rate.

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Caffeine is known to stimulate the release of adrenaline, thereby causing an increase in both heart rate and blood pressure.

Prolonged effects can cause damage to brain blood vessels over time, thus elevating the likelihood of clotting and stroke.

Researchers observed that adding milk to tea completely cancels out all potential stroke-preventive benefits.

The research team did not investigate the effects of sugar, syrups, spices or various other additives typically used in coffee and tea.

The researchers stated this might be due to milk blocking antioxidants, disease-preventing substances found in both coffee and tea that have been proven to decrease inflammation, which could ultimately lead to a stroke.

There were several limitations to the study. The researchers observed that the findings could potentially be susceptible to recall bias, given that the participants suffered a stroke only days before being interviewed.

The largest demographic was comprised of participants from China and South Asia. Since tea is strongly associated with these regions, potential biases in the data may exist.

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