Tea and Coffee Consumption and Cardiovascular Morbidity and Mortality

Objective-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. Methods and Results-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). Conclusion-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. (Arterioscler Thromb Vasc Biol. 2010;30:1665-1671.)