• Posted October 2, 2024

Coffee, Water, Soda: Which Raise Your Odds for Stroke?

Want to keep a stroke a bay? Drink water, nothing fizzy and skip fruit drinks.

That's the key takeaway from a global review that also raises a red flag for people who drink more than four cups of coffee a day.

"While [high blood pressure] is the most important risk factor, our stroke risk can also be lowered through healthy lifestyle choices in diet and physical activity," said lead researcher Andrew Smyth, a professor of clinical epidemiology at the University of Galway in Ireland. 

"As a doctor and as someone who has researched the risk of stroke, we would encourage people to avoid or minimize their consumption of fizzy and fruit drinks, and to consider switching to water instead," he added in a university news release.

The advice is an outgrowth of a global study of risk factors for stroke called INTERSTROKE. It involves almost 27,000 people in 27 countries, including more than 13,000 who had had their first stroke.

Stroke is a serious condition in which blood supply to part of the brain is cut off -- either due to a blood clot or hemorrhage. It is a leading cause of serious, long-term disability in the United States.

The new research linked carbonated drinks -- including those with sugar or artificial sweeteners -- to a 22% higher risk of stroke. And, it added, risk rose sharply among those who drank two or more of these beverages a day. 

Researchers noted that many products marketed as fruit juice are made from concentrates and contain preservatives and added sugars, which may increase stroke risk.

Fruit juice drinks were found to boost the odds for a bleeding stroke by 37%. The risk triples with two or more of these drinks a day, and women had the greatest risk of a bleeding stroke linked to juice consumption.

"Not all fruit juices are created equal," Smyth said. 

"Freshly squeezed fruit juices are most likely to bring benefits, but fruit drinks made from concentrates, with lots of added sugars and preservatives, may be harmful," he warned. "Our research shows that the chance of stroke increases the more often someone consumes fizzy drinks."

Earlier this year, INTERSTROKE unveiled results of a study that looked at consumption of coffee and tea. 

It found that a little coffee is OK, but stroke risk rose 37% after the fourth cup. The news was better for tea drinkers. Drinking three to four cups of black tea a day lowered stroke risk by 29%, while the same amount of green tea was linked to a 27% lower risk.

But skip the milk: Research suggests it may block the beneficial effects of antioxidants in tea. 

The findings on juice and fizzy drinks were published Sept. 27 in the Journal of Stroke and the findings on coffee, tea and water were published last summer in the International Journal of Stroke.

Finally, when it comes to quenching thirst, keep this fact in mind: Drinking more than seven cups of water a day appears to reduce odds of a stroke caused by a blood clot.

More information

Learn about risk factors for stroke at the Stroke Recovery Foundation.

SOURCE: University of Galway, news release, Sept. 30, 2024