Coffee and green tea reduce stroke risk

Green tea or coffee may help lower your risk of having a stroke, especially if they are a regular part of your diet, researchers in Japan say. Dr. Yoshihiro Kokubo of Japan's National Cerebral and Cardiovascular Center said the study team he led asked 83,269 Japanese adults about their green tea and coffee drinking habits and tracked them for an average 13 years. The study, published in Stroke: Journal of the American Heart Association, found people who drank at least one cup of coffee daily had about a 20 percent lower risk of stroke compared with those who rarely drank the beverage. People who drank two to three cups of green tea daily had a 14 percent lower risk of stroke and those who had at least four cups had a 20 percent lower risk, compared with those who rarely drank green tea. People who drank at least one cup of coffee or two cups of green tea daily had a 32 percent lower risk of intracerebral hemorrhage -- bleeding in the brain caused by the rupture of a blood vessel in the head -- compared with those who rarely drank either beverage, the researchers said. "You may make a small but positive lifestyle change to help lower the risk of stroke by adding daily green tea to your diet," Kokubo said in a statement. A typical cup of coffee or tea in Japan was about 6 ounces, the study said.