Daily Green Tea Coffee Tied To Lower Risk For 2nd Heart Attack Stroke
HealthDay Reporter
THURSDAY, Feb. 4, 2021 — If you have had a heart attack and a stroke, you might want to stock up on green tea.
New research from Japan finds survivors who drink plenty of green tea may live longer lives.
Stroke survivors who drank at least seven cups per day were 62% less likely to die during the study period, versus non-drinkers. Similarly, the risk was cut by 53% among heart attack survivors who downed that much tea.
Green tea was not the only beverage tied to longer life. For heart attack survivors — as well as people with no cardiovascular problems — moderate coffee intake was also linked to better survival.
The coffee benefit did not extend, however, to stroke survivors.
What does it all mean?
The findings do not prove that either beverage is a life-prolonging elixir. But they do add to evidence that plant compounds called flavonoids are good for cardiovascular health, according to Dr. Andrew Freeman.
Freeman, who was not involved in the study, is director of cardiovascular prevention and wellness at National Jewish Health in Denver.
There are no magic bullet foods, and a few cups of green tea won’t “cancel out the effects of a bacon cheeseburger,” Freeman said.
He stressed the importance of an overall diet low in processed foods and rich in plant-based ones — including fruits, vegetables, beans, whole grains and vegetable oils.
He said brewed teas and coffee are also better options than “diet” drinks, with their artificial sweeteners.
Choose Your Teas Carefully
As part of a heart-healthy eating plan, your doctor or nutritionist may suggest drinking more tea and with good reason. Soothing, aromatic tea has certainly earned a spot on the list of approved foods and drinks for its myriad of mind and body benefits. Significantly lower in caffeine than coffee, the caffeine youll get in a cup of tea varies depending on the type of tea, the brand, how it was processed, and how long it steeps. A chemical analysis of caffeine content in teas steeped for five minutes found Exotica China White tea has 34 milligrams , Stash Premium Green tea has 39 mg, and Stash Earl Grey Black tea has 51 mg of caffeine in an 8 ounce cup.
When it comes to health benefits, the type of tea you drink matters, as do any medications you might be taking. You also have to consider your individual caffeine sensitivity. In general, the best types of tea are those made from the Camellia sinenses shrub: black, white, green, and Oolong, according to Janet Bond Brill, PhD, RD, a cardiovascular nutritionist and author of Blood Pressure Down: The 10-Step Plan to Lower Your Blood Pressure in 4 Weeks Without Prescription Drugs.
How Is Tea So Good For Your Heart
To understand why drinking tea may be so good for your heart, we need to look at how your blood pressure affects your heart health. High blood pressure, called hypertension, damages the walls of your arteries making them stiff and possibly leading to blockages.
The higher your blood pressure readings, the more risk you have for cardiovascular disease , heart disease, and stroke. When your blood vessels aren’t as elastic as they should be, the flow of blood and oxygen to and from your heart decreases, leading to chest pain, and possibly heart attack or heart failure.
“Research is showing that high tea consumption leads to a healthier heart and reduced risk of disease,” says nutritionist Lisa Richards, CNC, creator of the Candida Diet. “This is because teas contain beneficial plant compounds known as polyphenols that act as antioxidants in the body.”
Tea and its metabolites like polyphenols play a role in relaxing arteries by reducing inflammation and enhancing the activity of nitric oxide in the endothelium, the layer of cells lining the inside of blood vessels. Nitric oxide is a vasodilator that causes the endothelium to relax, widening blood vessels and improving blood flow, according to a study in Nutrients.
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A Primer On The Immune System
The immune system is composed of white blood cells, which are then differentiated into five different type of immune cells. One of those is a group of cells called lymphocytes.
Lymphocytes are then broken down even further into B cells, as well as T cells, which have their own subset of cells called T helper cells, T regulatory cells, cytotoxic T cells and T suppressor cells.
The immune system can be confusing, so rather than describe these cells in detail, Ill use a real life example of how it works.
Lets say you cut yourself with a dirty knife. Bacteria penetrate your skin, engaging a first line of defense from our immune system called a macrophage .
Macrophages are like big, fat security guards wielding tiny billy clubs – ineffective, but theyll slow an invader down while they call on more sophisticated security guards.
When confronted with an invader, macrophages call on their friends, the T helper cells. The T helper cells tell the entire immune system through a series of chemical signals that there has been an invader that has crossed the barrier.
Specifically, the T helper cells call directly on two types of cells, cytotoxic T cells and natural killer cells, both soldiers with muscle that live up to their name and help attack and kill the bacterial invaders.
Once the bacteria have been killed, it is time for the immune system to call off the attack, which is the job of the T suppressor cells, who suppress the fight.
But heres what you really need to know:
What To Do If Foods Cause You Heart Palpitations
First off, take note if you feel any additional symptoms, because those could signal that youre experiencing more than simple palpitations. Seek emergency medical help if at any point you also have:
- Shortness of breath
- Pain or discomfort in the upper back, arms, neck, or jaw
- Feeling of impending doom
If its the first time youve ever noticed heart palpitations, make a follow-up appointment with your doctor. Its likely nothing is wrong, but its always best to err on the side of caution and make sure that the food-related episode isnt the first sign of a bigger issue.
Next, start a log and record times when the palpitations recur. Note what you ate or drank and what sort of emotional state you were in. If specific foods or beverages tend to cause recurrences, take that as a sign you should reduce or eliminate those foods from your diet. Your body and your heart couldnt be telling you any more clearly that those substances are doing you harm.
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Black Tea: It’s Both Good And Bad For Your Heart
Black tea is oxidized most extensively hence its black color, says Dr. Brill. Most of the benefits come from powerful plant chemicals knwn as polyphenols, as well as flavonoids. Suzanne Steinbaum, DO, the director of Women’s Heart Health at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York City, regularly advises her coffee-drinking patients to consider switching to black tea because it has roughly half the amount of caffeine as a same-sized cup of coffee. And results of a clinical trial published in the May 2012 Preventive Medicine journal indicated that people who drank three cups of black tea per day had, on average, 36 percent lower triglyceride levels and a 17 percent improvement in their cholesterol profiles.
All black teas are caffeinated, which is not great if you have high blood pressure or a fast heart rate it can make things worse, warns Dr. Steinbaum. For black teas, you may expect anywhere from 14 to 70 mg of caffeine, notes the Mayo Clinic.
Stimulants can trigger heart arrhythmias in some patients, says John Day, MD,cardiologist and heart rhythm specialist at the Intermountain Heart Institute in Murray, Utah. If any teas give you palpitations or a rapid heartbeat, you should stop drinking them and let your doctor know. And use caution if youre taking Coumadin , a commonly prescribed blood thinner, as black tea may decrease blood clotting and increase your chances of bruising and bleeding.
Heart Green Tea Because If You Have High Blood Pressure
Hypertension occurs when the cardiovascular system is working harder than it should, putting extra stress on it. Its a major risk factor for heart disease. Several studies have found frequently drinking green tea was linked to lower blood pressure, including a group of obese hypertensive women, who saw a beneficial effect after drinking green tea for just 4 weeks. In one study, the systolic blood pressure and diastolic blood pressure significantly lowered in a randomized control study with 79 hypertensive adults attributed to the addition to their diets of the healthy compounds, called epicatechins, found in green tea.
Oh, there are so many reasons to green tea.
Heart Health Benefits of Green Tea
- Improves function of blood vessels
- Lessens how cholesterol forms plaques
- Antioxidant activity
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Tea Prolongs Survival After Heart Attack
May 6, 2002 — Drinking tea may not only reduce your risk of developing heart disease, but it may also improve your chances of surviving longer after a heart attack. A new study shows heart attack victims who drank the most tea were the least likely to die in the years immediately following a heart attack.
Researchers say the findings add to a growing notion that the antioxidant-rich flavonoids found in black and green teas prevent heart disease. But this is the first study to suggest that drinking tea can actually protect the heart after damage has already occurred.
“The effects of tea on health have been widely studied, in part because tea contains flavonoids and other antioxidant compounds, but we don’t know of any previous studies that considered the effect of tea consumption on survival after heart attack,” says study author Kenneth Mukamal, MD, assistant professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School, in a news release. “Flavonoids are probably the best guess for the apparent benefits of tea in this study.”
The findings are published in the May 7 issue of Circulation: Journal of the American Heart Association. For the study, researchers asked 1,900 heart attack survivors about their weekly consumption of caffeinated teas and followed them for about four years.
“We found that tea drinkers generally had lower death rates regardless of age, gender, smoking status, obesity, hypertension, diabetes or previous heart attack,” says Mukamal in the release.
Diet For Heart Patient: Food List Diet Chart And Meal Plan
Heart disease is a very dangerous phenomenon, it can kill the person. Due to the closure of the coronary artery, the flow of blood in the heart suddenly becomes very low, which is called a heart attack. Having a heart attack, the surrounding tissues of the coronary artery are damaged very quickly. Heart attack depends on the severity of the patients condition. Apart from this, the effect of a heart attack depends on how quickly it is treated. To get relief from the heart related problem one can follow Diet for heart patients. Today we are going to provide a proper diet for heart patients.
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Sweet Drinks Go Down Easy But They May Be Hard On Your Heart Aside From Plain Water The Healthiest Choices Are Unsweetened Tea Coffee And Flavored Waters
When you want to quench your thirst with something a little more exciting than plain old water, there are a dizzying array of choices these days. However, many of the beverages in supermarkets and convenience store aisles are loaded with added sugar. Even many of those that sound healthy contain as much sugar as regular sodas.
Yes, the sugar in fruit juice is naturally occurring, as opposed to the processed sugar found in many carbonated and noncarbonated drinks such as sodas, vitamin water, and the like. But people should still be mindful about consuming too much fruit juice, says Vasanti Malik, a nutrition researcher at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.
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Could Green Tea Actually Be Bad For You
Green tea has received a lot of positive media attention in recent years. But is it really good for everyone?
Not necessarily.
There is a group of people for whom green tea may be hazardous. And given green teas popularity these days, its critical to share this information with anyone interested in health.
Green tea has a wealth of research behind it demonstrating a number of health-promoting benefits including anti-inflammatory, anti-carcinogenic and antioxidant properties.
Many of green teas benefits are due to its effects on the immune system, which is also where it can cause problems.
But before telling you how green tea impacts the immune system, lets take a quick look at a simplified version of how it works.
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Special Precautions & Warnings
ChildrenPOSSIBLY SAFE
Pregnancy and breast-feeding: If you are pregnant or breast-feeding, green tea in small amounts – about 2 cups per day – is POSSIBLY SAFE. This amount of green tea provides about 200 mg of caffeine. However, drinking more than 2 cups of green tea per day is POSSIBLY UNSAFE. Consuming more than 2 cups of green tea daily has been linked to an increased risk of miscarriage and other negative effects due to the caffeine content. Also, green tea might increase the risk of birth defects associated with folic acid deficiency. In women who are nursing, caffeine passes into breast milk and can affect a nursing infant. Don’t drink an excessive amount of green tea if you are pregnant or breast-feeding.
“Tired blood” : Drinking green tea may make anemia worse.
Anxiety disorders: The caffeine in green tea might make anxiety worse.
Bleeding disorders: Caffeine in green tea might increase the risk of bleeding. Don’t drink green tea if you have a bleeding disorder.
Heart conditions: Caffeine in green tea might cause irregular heartbeat.
Diabetes: Caffeine in green tea might affect blood sugar control. If you drink green tea and have diabetes, monitor your blood sugar carefully.
Diarrhea: Green tea contains caffeine. The caffeine in green tea, especially when taken in large amounts, can worsen diarrhea.
Glaucoma: Drinking green tea increases pressure inside the eye. The increase occurs within 30 minutes and lasts for at least 90 minutes.
Heart Health Supplements To Take And One To Avoid
Our modern world can bring overwhelming amounts of information aimed at helping us get healthier through supplements. Often, some people will see improvements, while others wont. Here are some supplements that can help boost the effects of healthy diet and exercise for your precious heart, and one supplement to avoid.
In the United States, dietary supplements are substances you eat or drink. They can be vitamins, minerals, herbs or other plants, amino acids , or parts of these substances. They can be in pill, capsule, tablet, or liquid form. They supplement the diet and should not be considered a substitute for food.
Click the name of each supplement to see more information, including results from studies, showing uses and doses. You can
Vitamins and minerals taken in appropriate doses may aid in lowering heart disease risk. Whole foods should be the main source of nutrients, and research shows that many people fall short of recommended intakes.
A supplement can’t make up for unhealthy eating habits, but sometimes even people who have healthy eating habits find it hard to get all the fruits, vegetables, and other healthy foods they need. A supplement can help fill in the gaps.
Numerous studies suggest positive association between taking vitamin and mineral supplements, and heart disease prevention. Vitamin and mineral supplements can be safe and inexepensive and may provide a health benefit.
2. Coenzyme Q10
3. Fiber
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Mechanistic Studies With Tea And Cardiovascular Diseases
Experimental and translational clinical studies have provided further insight into the mechanisms of benefit for tea against cardiovascular disease and contains a partial list of such mechanisms. These include antioxidant effects, anti-inflammatory effects, and improvement of endothelial function. This section will review these possible mechanisms.
Pregnancy And Infant Health Risks
Green tea contains caffeine, catechins, and tannic acids. All three substances have been linked to pregnancy risks. If you are pregnant or breastfeeding, green tea in small amounts about 2 cups per day is safe. This amount of green tea provides about 200 mg of caffeine. However, drinking more than 2 cups of green tea per day has been linked to an increased risk of miscarriage and other negative effects.
Caffeine passes into breast milk and can affect a nursing infant. In addition, drinking a large amount may cause neural tube birth defect in babies.
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Dont Drink: Energy Drinks
We said caffeine can be heart-healthy in moderation, but energy drinks are not known for moderation. Caffeine content in energy drinks ranges from about 70 mgless than a cup of coffeeall the way up to 300 mg.
In addition to the caffeine on the nutrition label, many energy drinks also have ingredients like guarana that contain caffeine, ingredients that enhance the effects of caffeine, or other stimulants. When you go beyond allotted caffeine levels it can be really detrimental. There are cases of kids with atrial fibrillation and high blood pressure, and older people having heart attacks due to high caffeine consumption.