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Coffee Is Good For Your Blood
Coffee is a great pick-me-up, the before-people-go-to-work drink. Most people owe their ability to maintain civility to their consumption of coffee. The beloved beverage, unfortunately, has been the subject of some bad press, as well.
One of the worst accusations hurled at coffee is that it causes high blood pressure because of its livening effects. Fortunately, recent studies have found that frequent coffee drinkers may have a better chance of avoiding high blood pressure than non- coffee drinking heretics.
The Science Brew
According to Greek researchers, people who drink one or two cups of coffee a day have more elastic blood vessels than people who drink less or more. Much like everything else in the human body, blood vessels get stiffer as we age, contributing to a greater risk of high blood pressure.
The study involves almost five hundred men and women aged sixty-five to a hundred on the small isle of Ikaria. The researchers were trying to glean some insight on the Ikarian population’s longevity, as more than a third of the people who live there see their lives go beyond ninety.
All the participants had high blood pressure and underwent image scanning to measure the elasticity of their blood vessels. According to surveys of the sample group, fifty-six percent drank one to two cups of coffee a day, thirty-three percent drank less than a cup a day, and eleven percent drank three or more cups a day.
The Surprising Results
People who drank one to two cups of coffee a day had twenty-five percent more blood vessel elasticity than people who drank less, and five times more elasticity than people who drank more. The studies found that people who drank one to two cups were less likely to have diabetes, cardiovascular disease, high cholesterol, or be overweight.
The researchers took into account differences in age, education, gender, physical activity, body weight, nutritional habits, blood pressure, diabetes, and smoking.
Coffee isn’t the big bad some quarters make it out to be. Coffee is our friend, and if we use it right, it can help us live longer too. Want to unlock the mysteries of coffee brewing? Contact us today, as we know all there is to know about coffee, from different beans to brewing methods.