The effect of coffee on stroke cases is still very uncertain. Some studies have shown that excessive coffee consumption can shrink the brain, which increases the risk of stroke. Others have found that coffee can stiffen arteries, which is another way it can augment the risk of stroke. Four cups of coffee a day are associated with a 37% augment in the risk of stroke. Still others have found that coffee can prevent strokes in vigorous people and even reduce stroke mortality.
It’s a mixed bag to say the least. A modern study adds to the confusion and found that coffee consumption is associated with better cognitive performance in people with a high incidence of stroke.
Published recently inresearchers sought to discover how coffee consumption affects cognitive performance in older adults with atrial fibrillation (AFib), an irregular heartbeat that leads to stroke, heart attack, dementia and Alzheimer’s disease. AFib also causes a deterioration of mental health and thus the desire to find ways to stop it.
For the study, researchers studied more than 2,400 people aged 65 and older with a documented history of AFib using the Swiss-AF study, a “continuous, observational, 14-site, prospective cohort study” of people with AFib. For the study, participants completed a “structured nutritional questionnaire” that includes questions about daily coffee habits and were assessed for cognitive function using a “detailed neurocognitive test battery” that included the “Montreal Cognitive Assessment, Trail-Making Test, Semantic Fluency and digit and symbol substitution test.
After controlling for other factors, they found that coffee consumption had a positive effect on cognitive performance in the subjects. These effects occurred in people who drank just one cup a day and showed a linear augment to more than five cups a day, with the drinker’s “cognitive age” decreasing by an average of 6.7 years.
The researchers also found that coffee consumption is linearly related to reduced inflammation, which they believe contributes to positive outcomes. (That means it’s not just a hit of caffeine that helps people think more clearly.)
And while these findings are only observational, they are promising enough to merit further study to establish causality, and the authors concluded that “coffee consumption among older patients with [AFib] “You shouldn’t get discouraged.” This is about as forceful an endorsement as you will get from this type of research.
Coffee: Provides 1.8 extra years of life and 6.7 years of cognitive function. What don’t you like about it?
