Daily Coffee Limbers Up the Heart

By Crystal Phend, Senior Staff Writer, MedPage Today Published: August 25, 2010 Reviewed by Robert Jasmer, MD; Associate Clinical Professor of Medicine, University of California, San Francisco and Dorothy Caputo, MA, RN, BC-ADM, CDE, Nurse Planner STOCKHOLM -- A daily coffee habit may counteract aortic stiffness in older adults with hypertension, researchers reported. One to two cups a day correlated with greater aortic distensibility compared with rarely consuming coffee (P=0.45) in a cohort of men and women 65 and older on the Greek island of Ikaria. But a higher dose -- three to five cups a day -- had no effect on flexibility of the aorta, according to Christina Chrysohoou, MD, PhD, of the University of Athens, and colleagues./.../