Consuming more caffeine may improve heart health, according to a study published in the Rheumatology journal.

Vascular disease, damage of blood vessels, and their resulting consequences, heart attack and stroke, are among the leading causes of death in the general population. In patients with inflammatory rheumatic diseases, such as lupus and rheumatoid arthritis, these risks are even much higher. This is both due to the diseases themselves and some of the treatments for them, particularly cortisone derivatives.

Until now, doctors' recommendations to reduce these vascular risks were essentially about avoiding risk factors. This included stopping inflammation, decreasing cortisone medications, as well as conventional recommendations like not smoking, reducing cholesterol, and controlling high blood pressure.

But researchers from Sapienza University of Rome, in Italy, involved in this study believe patients may be able to improve vascular health by doing something that's actually enjoyable. The laboratory results of these investigators suggest that caffeine, present in coffee, tea, and cocoa, actively helps endothelial progenitor cells, the group of cells that helps regenerate the lining of blood vessels and are involved in vascular growth.

It's well known that a diet rich in vitamin D (found in oily fish and eggs) and A (found in many fruits) and polyunsaturated fatty acid, and low in sodium, seems to play a role in decreasing the inflammatory burden.

Scientists have wondered about caffeine as well. Besides the well-known stimulant effect on the body, caffeine also exerts an anti-inflammatory effect because it binds with the receptors expressed on the surface of immune cells. The effect of caffeine consumption on cardiovascular health has been widely investigated, with conflicting results.

Researchers investigated 31 lupus patients without traditional cardiovascular risk factors using a seven-day food questionnaire. After a week, the investigators took the patients' blood to measure the health of their blood vessels. They found that patients who consumed caffeine had better vascular health, as measured through endothelial cells, which form the important inner layer of blood vessels.

"The present study is an attempt to provide patients with information on the possible role of diet in controlling the disease," said the paper's lead author, Fulvia Ceccarelli. "It will be necessary to confirm the results through a longitudinal study, aimed at assessing the real impact of coffee consumption on the disease course."

The research paper is titled "Caffeine improves systemic lupus erythematosus endothelial dysfunction by promoting endothelial progenitor cells survival."