The new study has been completed of nearly 500 men and women, age 65 to 100, who live on a small island called Ikaria, in the Aegean Sea, where more than a third of people live to celebrate their 90th birthday. The study was trying to pinpoint the reasons the people on this island enjoy such long lives.
As people get older, their blood vessels get stiffer, a progression that increases the risk of high blood pressure. The new study suggests that moderate coffee drinking may counteract this process.
Participants in the study who drank one to two cups of coffee a day had about a 25% greater elasticity in their major blood vessels than people who drank less coffee or no coffee.
Dr. Christina Chrysohoou, the study’s lead researcher, recommends that hypertensive patients should drink one to two cups of coffee a day in order to combat the effects of arterial aging.
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