Drinking tea and coffee daily could reduce risk of dementia and stroke by up to a third, new research has revealed.
Of a study of people aged between 50 and 74, it was found that a combination of both drinks was associated with a lower possibility of stroke and dementia.
Drinking coffee was also linked to a reduced risk of post-stroke dementia.
The research, from Tianjin Medical University in China, studied 365,682 participants from the UK Biobank, who were recruited between 2006 and 2010 and monitor until 2020.
At the outset participants self-reported their coffee and tea intake. Over the study period, 5,079 participants developed dementia and 10,053 experienced at least one stroke.
People who drank two or three cups of coffee or between three and five cups of tea per day, or a combination of four to six cups of coffee and tea, had the lowest incidence of stroke or dementia.
Individuals who drank two or three cups of coffee and a similar amount of tea daily had a 32 per cent lower risk of stroke and a 28 per cent lower risk of dementia, compared with those who drank neither coffee nor tea.
Intake of coffee alone or in combination with tea was also associated with lower risk of post-stroke dementia.
“Our findings suggested that moderate consumption of coffee and tea separately or in combination were associated with lower risk of stroke and dementia,” said the team, led by Yuan Zhang.
The report highlights the properties of tea and coffee as being of significance, with coffee being the primary source of caffeine which contains phenolics and other bioactive compounds with potential beneficial health effects.
Likewise, tea contains caffeine, catechin polyphenols, and flavonoids, which have been reported to have neuroprotective roles such as antioxidative stress, anti-inflammation, inhibition of amyloid-beta aggregation, and antiapoptosis.
Future research is needed to investigate the impact of changes in coffee and tea intake over time on stroke and dementia risk, the research team added.
