We all know that coffee is a wonderful, wonderful thing. It keeps us awake, and gives us an extra boost of motivation.
However, according to a new study, coffee may even be better for us than we once thought. According to the study’s results, consuming three cups of coffee every day may lower our risk of atherosclerosis (aka the risk of clogged arteries).
Researchers from the University of São Paulo in Brazil sought to discover how coffee affects calcium buildup in the coronary arteries. To learn more, they began analyzing data from over 4,400 adults with an average age of 50. All adults were living in São Paulo.
The researchers had each participant fill out a questionnaire about the amount of coffee they were consuming. All participants were then split into three groups: less than one cup per day, 1-3 cups per day, and more than 3 cups per day.
Each participant also underwent a CT scan in order to see the amount of calcium accumulation in their arteries.
According to the results, participants who drank at least three cups of coffee per day on average had less coronary calcification in their arteries.
However, the researchers found something incredibly interesting when reviewing their results. According to Medical News Today:
However, after adjustment, the researchers found that this association was only significant for adults who had never smoked. In fact, never-smokers who consumed at least three cups of coffee daily had a 63 percent lower risk of coronary calcification.
For former or current smokers, drinking coffee appeared to have no benefits for calcium buildup.
“It is possible that deleterious effects of smoking overwhelm the benefits of coffee intake on early cardiovascular disease injury,” the team speculates, “so this impact of coffee may occur only in people who have never smoked.”
