FRIDAY, Feb. 20 (HealthDay News) -- Increased consumption of tea or coffee is associated with reduced risk of ischemic stroke, according to research presented at the American Stroke Association's International Stroke Conference held Feb. 17 to 20 in San Diego.
In one study, Lenore Arab, Ph.D., of the University of California in Los Angeles, and colleagues conducted a meta-analysis of 10 studies that provided original data on either fatal or non-fatal ischemic stroke in relationship to tea consumption and constructed a statistical model to estimate relative risks for an intake of up to three cups of tea per day. The researchers found that additional consumption of three cups a day of black or green tea was associated with a 21 percent reduced risk of ischemic stroke.
In a second study, David S. Liebeskind, M.D., also of UCLA, and colleagues analyzed National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey III data on 9,384 subjects over age 40 for whom data was available on coffee consumption and stroke. They found that non-coffee drinkers had the highest prevalence of stroke, and that prevalence steadily decreased as coffee consumption increased, from 5 percent among those who drank one or two cups per day to 3.5 percent among those who drank three to five cups per day, and 2.9 percent among those who drank more than six cups per day.
"The more cups of coffee per day, the prevalence of stroke and several vascular risk factors decrease, despite smoking tendency in heavy coffee drinkers," Liebeskind and colleagues conclude.
An author disclosed a relationship with Lipton Tea Institute.
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