Black coffee to cause atherosclerosis?!

According to Greek scientists from the Harokopian University of Athens, frequent consumption of coffee is capable of intensifying inflammatory processes in one's body and can in fact lead to the development of a number of illnesses.

After examining more than 3 000 healthy individuals, who in turn were not prone to any chronic illnesses, the team of Greek scientists determined the following: those who consumed more than one cup of strong coffee per day turned out to have an increased number of the so-called “inflammatory markers” in their blood. Such “inflammatory markers” in this case refer to the kind of substances that occur as a result of some inflammatory processes in one's body. In several cases, concentration of these substances turned out to be extremely high. Such reaction in turn was indicative of some inflammatory process that has started to affect healthy tissue. Such reaction in turn may lead to development of various chronic illnesses, such as atherosclerosis.

It is also noteworthy to mention that the correlation between the amount of consumed coffee and the intensity of inflammatory processes established by the scientists had nothing to do with sex, age, smoking habits, weight.

Despite such rather straightforward research results, the scientists are in no rush to make any sensational statements. Their article featured on the pages of “The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition” notes that neither one of previously conducted researches (carried out in other countries) have yielded similar results. This means that the data acquired by the Greek team could have been a mistake. Therefore, scientists ought to do more research before making any definite claims.