How many coffees to drink a day to look after your heart

Study reveals that caffeine-infused drinks can reduce the risk of developing cardio conditions

Drinking three cups of coffee a day halves the risk of developing numerous heart conditions, a study has suggested.
The research revealed that people who drank three cups a day were 48 per cent less likely to develope multiple cardio-metabolic diseases, such as type 2 diabetes, coronary heart disease and stroke.
The study also found that drinking two cups of tea daily reduced the likelihood of developing these conditions by a third, compared to drinking none.
Scientists from Soochow University in China analysed UK Biobank data of middle-aged people in Britain whose health had been charted for more than a decade.
Tea and coffee consumption were linked to a reduced risk of heart-related conditions, but the study also found that the benefits were seen when looking solely at caffeine consumption.
People drinking 200-300mg of caffeine a day were 41 per cent less likely than abstainers to later be diagnosed with cardio-metabolic diseases.
Most experts say it is safe to consume up to 300mg of caffeine a day. The NHS suggests that pregnant women should consume no more than 200mg a day, equivalent to two cups of coffee.
The study found an association between caffeine, tea and coffee but was unable to find evidence of causation or discover what about the drinks may be beneficial.
“Consuming three cups of coffee, or 200-300mg caffeine, per day might help to reduce the risk of developing cardio-metabolic multi-morbidity in individuals without any cardio-metabolic disease,” said Dr Chaofu Ke, the study’s lead author.
“The findings highlight that promoting moderate amounts of coffee or caffeine intake as a dietary habit to healthy people might have far-reaching benefits for the prevention of [multiple conditions],” he added.
The scientists wrote in their paper, published in the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism, that the biological mechanisms underlying the link between the drinks and the seeming health benefits “remain unclear”.
Previous studies have found that drinking coffee can lower the risk of stroke and also reduce the chance of an early death, but this study is the first to look at the possible lowering of risk of heart-relatd conditions.
A study in 2022 found that moderate coffee drinkers, having up to three cups a day, were 12 per cent less likely to die over an 11-year period.
They were also 17 and 21 per cent less likely to die of heart disease or stroke, respectively, according to researchers at Semmelweis University in Budapest and Queen Mary University in London.
The benefits were also found for those drinking decaffeinated coffee.
The scientists say the findings of this study suggest the health benefits may not necessarily be down to the caffeine, but could be caused by other chemicals in the drink.
Although there is now a host of studies finding purported benefits in coffee consumption, a paper from the University of Cambridge in 2022 found that drinking hot coffee or tea almost tripled the risk of oesophageal cancer.
That study also used data from the UK Biobank, from more than half a million people in the UK, to consider their cancer risk.
The findings, published in the journal Clinical Nutrition, suggested that coffee consumption did not increase the risk of any cancers except for esophageal.
The most committed coffee and tea drinkers were found to be at 2.8 times more risk of oesophageal cancer than abstainers. 
But the study also asked participants how they liked their coffee: warm, hot or very hot.
Those who preferred a tepid brew were found to be at 2.7 times more risk than non-drinkers, while those answering “hot” had a 5.5-fold increase, and “very hot” a 4.1-fold.