Drinking tea and coffee is good for the heart, according to a new study. Consuming more caffeine may improve heart health - particularly for people with rheumatic conditions, say Italian scientists. The study involved patients with lupus which occurs when the immune system, which normally helps protect the body from infection and disease, attacks its own tissues.
The attack causes inflammation, and in some cases permanent tissue damage, which can be widespread affecting the skin, joints, heart, lung, kidneys, circulating blood cells, and brain. The research team explained that vascular disease, damage of blood vessels, and their resulting consequences, heart attack and stroke, are among the leading causes of death. But in patients with inflammatory rheumatic diseases, such as lupus and rheumatoid arthritis, these risks are even higher due both to the diseases themselves and some of the treatments for them, particularly cortisone derivatives.
Until now, doctors' recommendations to reduce vascular risks were essentially about avoiding risk factors. These included stopping inflammation, decreasing cortisone medications, as well as conventional recommendations such as not smoking, reducing cholesterol, and controlling high blood pressure. But researchers from Sapienza University of Rome believed patients may be able to improve vascular health by doing something that's actually enjoyable: having a cuppa.
The laboratory results of their study, published in the journal Rheumatology,.