MedicalXPress — 16 November 2021
Drinking coffee or tea may be associated with a lower risk of stroke and dementia, according to a study of healthy individuals aged 50-74 published in the open-access journal PLOS Medicine. Drinking coffee was also associated with a lower risk of post-stroke dementia.
Yuan Zhang and colleagues from Tianjin Medical University, Tianjin, China studied 365,682 participants from The UK Biobank, who were recruited between 2006 and 2010 and followed until 2020. At the outset participants self-reported their coffee and tea intake. Over the study period, 5,079 participants developed dementia and 10,053 experienced at least one stroke.
People who drank 2-3 cups of coffee or 3-5 cups of tea per day, or a combination of 4-6 cups of coffee and tea, had the lowest incidence of stroke or dementia. Individuals who drank 2-3 cups of coffee and 2-3 cups of tea daily had a 32% lower risk of stroke and a 28% lower risk of dementia compared with those who drank neither coffee nor tea. Intake of coffee alone or in combination with tea was also associated with lower risk of post-stroke dementia.
The UK Biobank reflects a relatively healthy sample relative to the general population, which could restrict the ability to generalise these associations. Also, relatively few people developed dementia or stroke, which can make it difficult to extrapolate rates accurately to larger populations. The authors add: “Our findings suggested that moderate consumption of coffee and tea separately or in combination were associated with lower risk of stroke and dementia.”