Consumption of coffee is associated with reduced risk of death attributed to inflammatory and cardiovascular diseases in the Iowa Women's Health Study.

BACKGROUND

Coffee is the major source of dietary antioxidants. The association between coffee consumption and risk of death from diseases associated with inflammatory or oxidative stress has not been studied.

OBJECTIVE

We studied the relation of coffee drinking with total mortality and mortality attributed to cardiovascular disease, cancer, and other diseases with a major inflammatory component.

DESIGN

A total of 41,836 postmenopausal women aged 55-69 y at baseline were followed for 15 y. After exclusions for cardiovascular disease, cancer, diabetes, colitis, and liver cirrhosis at baseline, 27,312 participants remained, resulting in 410,235 person-years of follow-up and 4265 deaths. The major outcome measure was disease-specific mortality.

RESULTS

In the fully adjusted model, similar to the relation of coffee intake to total mortality, the hazard ratio of death attributed to cardiovascular disease was 0.76 (95% CI: 0.64, 0.91) for consumption of 1-3 cups/d, 0.81 (95% CI: 0.66, 0.99) for 4-5 cups/d, and 0.87 (95% CI: 0.69, 1.09) for > or =6 cups/d. The hazard ratio for death from other inflammatory diseases was 0.72 (95% CI: 0.55, 0.93) for consumption of 1-3 cups/d, 0.67 (95% CI: 0.50, 0.90) for 4-5 cups/d, and 0.68 (95% CI: 0.49, 0.94) for > or =6 cups/d.

CONCLUSIONS

Consumption of coffee, a major source of dietary antioxidants, may inhibit inflammation and thereby reduce the risk of cardiovascular and other inflammatory diseases in postmenopausal women.