How Moderate Coffee Drinking Could Transform Your Health

In today’s episode of Daily Value, we look at the protective effects of coffee, tea, and caffeine consumption on cardiometabolic health. A recent study published in the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism (doi:10.1210/clinem/dgae552) reveals how moderate caffeine intake—equivalent to a specific amount of caffeine—is related to the reduced risk of cardiometabolic multimorbidity, which includes coexistence of conditions like type 2 diabetes, coronary heart disease, and stroke.

Episode Talking Points:

• *The link between caffeine intake and reduced risk of developing cardiometabolic diseases.
• *Potential mechanisms of protection, including antioxidant and anti-inflammatory effects, improved lipid metabolism, and the role of specific compounds like chlorogenic acid and catechins.
• *Practical takeaways for incorporating moderate coffee or tea consumption into your daily routine for long-term heart health.

https://academic.oup.com/jcem/advance-article-abstract/doi/10.1210/clinem/dgae552/7754545?redirectedFrom=fulltext

Transcript

Speaker 0: 0:00

Hello everyone, Welcome back to Daily Value. I'm William Wallace, and today we'll be discussing new findings about the protective effects of coffee, tea and caffeine consumption, particularly when it comes to reducing the risk of cardiometabolic diseases like type 2 diabetes, coronary heart disease and stroke. Today's episode will explore how moderate coffee and caffeine take could play a protective role in preventing cardiovascular disease, based on a recent study published in the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism. We'll discuss the study's findings, potential mechanisms of protection that caffeine might confer, the dose at which this protection might be taking place, and whether the source of caffeine matters. Lastly, we'll discuss what this could mean for your daily coffee or tea habits.

Speaker 0: 0:50

As always, this podcast is for educational purposes only and should not replace medical advice. Now let's get into it. Cardiometabolic diseases such as type 2 diabetes, coronary heart disease and stroke are already major contributors to global mortality. But what happens when individuals develop more than one of these conditions at the same time? This is called cardiometabolic multimorbidity. With only one cardiometabolic disease, all-cause mortality risk is two-fold higher compared to not having any cardiometabolic disease. In cardiometabolic multimorbidity, all-cause mortality risk goes up four to seven times higher compared to someone without any cardiometabolic disease or condition. Interestingly enough. There are numerous epidemiological studies that have shown an inverse relationship between coffee, tea and caffeine consumption and risk of death from any single cardiometabolic disease. Now, obviously, epidemiological inverse association is not causation, but this has been shown enough times to be of note. However, to this point in time, it's not really been known whether or not caffeine intake from coffee or tea had the same inverse relationship with mortality associated with cardiometabolic multimorbidity, which, again, would be the term used for having two or more cardiometabolic diseases coexisting with each other. Well, this is exactly what a recent study published again in the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism sought to determine.

Speaker 0: 2:21

Based on data from the UK Biobank, a large longitudinal study involving over 500,000 participants aged 37 to 73 years old examined the impact of coffee, tea and caffeine intake on the development of cardiometabolic diseases over an 11-year period. Here is what the study found Participants who consumed moderate amounts of coffee that is, around three cups of coffee had a 48.1% reduced risk of developing cardiometabolic multimorbidity compared to non-consumers. Similarly, when looking at just caffeine content, those who consumed 200 to 300 milligrams of caffeine per day that's roughly equivalent to two to three cups of coffee had a 40.7% reduced risk of new-onset cardiometabolic comorbidity. Now, interestingly, the protective effects of coffee and caffeine were consistent across multiple stages of cardiometabolic disease development, including the transition from a healthy state to a single cardiometabolic disease and from one disease to multiple diseases. The study suggests a broad protective role of caffeine, as it found that regular consumption of coffee, tea or caffeine was inversely associated with the risk of developing cardiometabolic multimorbidity in individuals who had no cardiometabolic disease at baseline. Even participants who consumed lower amounts of caffeine, that's, less than 100 mg per day, showed some degree of protection, but the greatest benefit was seen in those who drank at least 3 cups of coffee or who consume 200 to 300 milligrams of caffeine daily. Importantly, coffee and caffeine intake appeared to have protective effects in almost every phase of cardiometabolic multimorbidity development. This makes a compelling case for the role of moderate coffee and caffeine consumption in maintaining health over time.

Speaker 0: 4:17

So why does coffee and caffeine seem to protect against cardiometabolic multimorbidity? While the exact mechanisms are still not entirely known, there are several plausible explanations, the first being a pretty obvious one, that being the antioxidant and anti-inflammatory effects of coffee and tea. Specifically, Coffee and tea are rich in polyphenols and antioxidants such as chlorogenic acid and catechins. These compounds have been shown to reduce oxidative stress and inflammation, both of which are major drivers of cardiometabolic disease states. Two would be improved lipid metabolism. Caffeine consumption has been linked to higher levels of HDL cholesterol and lower levels of LDL cholesterol. Chlorogenic acid from coffee and catechin and gallic acid from tea, but also found a bit in coffee, can bind to lower-density lipoproteins and protect them from oxidizing. The idea has been proposed that different phenolic and antioxidant compounds found in coffee and tea offer more synergistic protection compared to taking in any single antioxidant compound of the many being described here.

Speaker 0: 5:28

Lastly, a recent study showed that caffeine can block the expression of a specific protein in the liver called proprotein-converte, subtilisin kexin type 9, or PCSK9. Now why is this important? Pcsk9 plays a crucial role in regulating the number of LDL receptors on the surface of liver cells. Ldl receptors are like tiny catchers that remove LDL from your bloodstream. Normally, PCSK9 reduces the number of these receptors, which means more LDL cholesterol stays in your blood, increasing your risk for heart disease. But when caffeine blocks PCSK9, it helps maintain more LDL receptors, allowing the liver to clear more cholesterol from the blood. In simpler terms, caffeine seems to enhance the body's ability to lower low-density lipoprotein levels by making the liver more efficient.

Speaker 0: 6:22

So what does all of this mean for your coffee and or tea habit? Well, based on the findings we discussed, moderate coffee and caffeine consumption could offer protective benefits against developing multiple cardiometabolic diseases. If you're free of any cardiometabolic conditions and are looking to maintain long-term heart and metabolic health, here are a few key takeaways Aim for moderate coffee intake Around three cups per day, or consume 200 to 300 milligrams of caffeine per day, preferentially from coffee or tea. Tea drinkers, of course, you're not left out. Similar protective effects were observed for people who drank five or more cups of tea per day in the study that we just discussed. The findings from the study highlight the potential role of coffee and tea and caffeine consumption in reducing the risk of cardiometabolic multimorbidity. These results suggest that incorporating moderate amounts of those beverages into your daily routine could help protect against multiple cardiometabolic diseases over time. Thank you for joining me today on Daily Value. If you found this episode helpful, don't forget to subscribe and share it with others who might benefit. Until next time, take care of your heart and stay healthy.