By David Liu, PHD

Thursday Oct 4, 2012 (foodconsumer.org) -- A new study presented at the European Society of Hypertension this year suggests that drinking coffee may help prevent stroke or reduce the risk of the deadly event.  The study is not a trial meaning that it has not been established that drinking coffee is the cause for reduced risk of stroke.

L. D’Elia and colleagues conducted the meta-analysis and found men and women who drank moderate amounts of coffee day were at 18 percent reduced risk of stroke, compared to those who did not drink or drank no more than one cup a day.

Coffee, which has almost zero nutrition value, have been associated with a range of chronic diseases although it has been associated with increased risk of caffeine-associated side effects, transient increase in blood pressure and long term increase in low density lipoprotein cholesterol or LDL cholesterol.  Many believe that antioxidants in coffee may be responsible for the benefits reported.

D’Elia and colleagues  found an associating between coffee consumption and reduced risk of stroke after systematically reviewing studies conducted between 1966 and 2011 published in major databases that evaluated coffee consumption and stroke risk in a general population.  Included in the review study were 10 cohort studies of 442,098 participants with a follow-up of 2 to 24 years during which 6962 cases of stroke were documented.

Those who moderately consumed coffee were 18 percent less likely to suffer stroke and those who had high consumption of the common beverage were 21 percent reduced risk.

Nevertheless, those who had very high consumption were not to have decreased risk as those who did not have high consumption.

The researchers "concluded that moderate coffee consumption was associated with a statistically significant reduction in risk for stroke in the general population, independent of most identifiable confounders."

The reduction in risk of stroke in coffee drinkers may have nothing to do with coffee after all according to a health observer.   When some researchers did studies to link alcohol drinking with lower risk of heart disease, they used one trick - that is, they classified those who used to drink alcohol, but quit drinking because of health problems as non-drinkers, that is why non-drinkers were at a high risk for heart disease.

Likewise, in the case of coffee consumption and risk of stroke, those who had health conditions may be more likely than the healthier people to abstain from coffee drinking.  If that is the case, coffee does not have any protective effect against stroke.    To disprove this notion, a simple clinical trial would be able to overturn the notion that coffee is actually not responsible for the reduced risk for stroke.

To prevent stroke, one important thing is to use antioxidants like vitamin C often.  It is also important to follow a healthy diet to avoid stroke and other cardiovascular disease/events.