Tea and coffee consumption and cardiovascular morbidity and mortality

To examine the associations of coffee and tea consumption with risk of morbidity and mortality of stroke and coronary heart disease (CHD) and with all-cause mortality.

Coffee and tea consumption were assessed with a validated food-frequency questionnaire, and 37 514 participants were observed for 13 years for the occurrence of cardiovascular morbidity and mortality. A U-shaped association between coffee and CHD was found, with the lowest hazard ratio (HR [95% CI]) for 2.1 to 3.0 cups per day (0.79 [0.65 to 0.96]; P(trend)=0.01). Tea was inversely associated with CHD, with the lowest HR (95% CI) for more than 6.0 cups per day (0.64 [0.46 to 0.90]; P(trend)=0.02). No associations between tea or coffee and stroke were found (P(trend)=0.63 and P(trend)=0.32, respectively). Although not significant, coffee slightly reduced the risk for CHD mortality (HR, 0.64; 95% CI, 0.37 to 1.11; P(trend)=0.12) for 3.1 to 6.0 cups per day. A U-shaped association between tea and CHD mortality was observed, with an HR of 0.55 (95% CI, 0.31 to 0.97; P(trend)=0.03) for 3.1 to 6.0 cups per day. Neither coffee nor tea was associated with stroke (P(trend)=0.22 and P(trend)=0.74, respectively) and all-cause mortality (P(trend)=0.33 and P(trend)=0.43, respectively).

High tea consumption is associated with a reduced risk of CHD mortality. Our results suggest a slight risk reduction for CHD mortality with moderate coffee consumption and strengthen the evidence on the lower risk of CHD with coffee and tea consumption.