Green tea, coffee may cut stroke risk

Adding green tea and coffee to your regular diet may help lower your risk of having a stroke, a new study has claimed.
Researchers asked 83,269 Japanese adults about their green tea and coffee drinking habits, following them for an average 13 years. They found that the more green tea or coffee people drink, the lower their stroke risks.
"This is the first large-scale study to examine the combined effects of both green tea and coffee on stroke risks," said Yoshihiro Kokubo, lead author of the study at Japan's National Cerebral and Cardiovascular Center.
"You may make a small but positive lifestyle change to help lower the risk of stroke by adding daily green tea to your diet," Kokubo said.

The study found people who drank at least one cup of coffee daily had about a 20 per cent lower risk of stroke compared to those who rarely drank it.
People who drank two to three cups of green tea daily had a 14 per cent lower risk of stroke and those who had at least four cups had a 20 per cent lower risk, compared to those who rarely drank it.

People who drank at least one cup of coffee or two cups of green tea daily had a 32 per cent lower risk of intracerebral hemorrhage, which happens when a blood vessel bursts and bleeds inside the brain.

Participants in the study were 45 to 74 years old, almost evenly divided in gender, and were free from cancer and cardiovascular disease.
During the 13-years of follow-up, researchers reviewed participants' hospital medical records and death certificates, collecting data about heart disease, strokes and causes of death. They adjusted their findings to account for age, sex and lifestyle factors like smoking, alcohol, weight, diet and exercise.
"The regular action of drinking tea, coffee, largely benefits cardiovascular health because it partly keeps blood clots from forming," Kokubo said.
The study was published in Stroke: Journal of the American Heart Association.