Good News for PR Pros: Coffee May Prevent Heart Disease

If you are, like me, a public relations consultant, you’ll be surprised and pleased to learn that at least one inevitable corollary of our challenging job — heavy coffee consumption — appears to have a positive pay-off.

According to a recent article in NewScientist, an NIH-sponsored study undertaken by epidemiologists from the U.S. and Spain found that people who drink several cups of coffee daily were less likely to die of heart disease than those who avoided the tasty, reviving brew. The researchers found that women who drank four to five cups per day were 34% less likely to die of cardiovascular disease; while men who had more than five cups a day were 44% less likely to die of heart disease.

One of the researchers suggested that anti-inflammatory compounds found in coffee may be responsible for its apparent health benefits.

For the record, the jury’s still out about the long-term effects of high levels of caffeine, which may increase the chances of suffering a heart attack by raising blood pressure. For now, my colleagues and I at public relations firms in New York and elsewhere will continue to indulge in our coffee habit … with slightly less guilt.