Those who try to stay health-conscious can likely recall feeling frustrated by how often public opinion seems to shift away from certain foods only to come back again.
But even beyond the question of whether fats, carbs, and sugars are the enemy, it’s often tough to remember whether eggs are supposed to be good for us or not depending on what scientists are saying now.
But sometimes, researchers come to a result that seems to answer a question in a pretty solid way and let’s just say coffee drinkers are in for some good news.
For a while, coffee hasn’t enjoyed the best reputation as a healthy beverage.
As The Guardian reported , various studies have suggested that it hardens arteries, which increases the risks of both heart attacks and stroke because the heart has to work harder to circulate blood throughout the body.
However, a new study led by Professor Steffen Petersen from the Queen Mary University of London flies in the face of these studies and his team has some idea as to why.
According to the university’s website , the researchers involved found these previous studies inconsistent and believed they were hindered by low participant numbers.
And from what they found, it may not be coffee that was the issue in the other reports.
That’s because, according to their findings , most moderate to heavy drinkers (at least in the U.K.) were found to be males who smoked and consumed alcohol regularly.
To show what affect coffee had on participants’ arteries by itself, the team split participants into three groups.
These groups included those who drank less than one cup of coffee a day, those who drank between one and three a day, and those who drank more than three.
The only ones excluded on the basis of consumption were those who drank more than 25 cups a day, although there’s no telling how many people met this criteria.
All told, 8,412 people participated in this study.
Researchers established controls for age, gender, ethnicity, smoking habits, height, weight, alcohol consumption, diet, and blood pressure levels, all of which are contributing factors to stiffening arteries.
Once these controls were in place, participants underwent MRI heart scans and infrared pulse wave tests.
And when all these tests were done, coffee wasn’t found to significantly contribute to artery stiffening.
Once all the controls were accounted for, those who drank more than three cups a day weren’t found to have any more likelihood of stiffened arteries than those who drank less than one a day.
And this effect held true even among those in their study who drank 25 cups of coffee a day.
That certainly seems like an uncomfortably extreme level of coffee consumption, but no increased likelihood of artery stiffening was reported even in these heavy users when compared to those who drank less than one a day.
As you might have expected, those who drank 25 a day didn’t represent the majority of the group who drank three cups or more.
![Image credit: Reddit | [deleted]](https://static.diply.com/6kBZSXXDAMBfIW6zZPGH.jpg)
Instead, the researchers found that the average coffee intake among this group was closer to five cups a day.
Still, the example of those super heavy users did a lot to demonstrate how little coffee affects the arteries.
