Great News for Coffee Drinkers: Your Daily Cup Could Help Lower Your Blood Pressure, According to New Study

Do you love to drink coffee throughout the day? If so, you might be doing your health a favor. According to science, this beloved beverage is more than just a pick-me-up: A new study published in the journal Nutrients found that those who enjoy one to three cups of joe each day had lower blood pressure than non-coffee drinkers.

A research team out of the University of Bologna found that coffee can cut your chances of developing cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, and neurodegenerative and liver conditions—and that caffeine has nothing to do with it, said Claudio Borghi, professor and study lead. "Caffeine is only one of the several coffee components and certainly not the only one with an active role," he said in a statement, Earth reports. "Positive effects on human health have indeed been recorded even among those who consume decaffeinated coffee."

The team wanted to learn how all of coffee's components benefit our health. "We know that caffeine can increase blood pressure, but other bioactive components in coffee seem to counterbalance this effect with a positive end result on blood pressure levels," said Borghi. To get their results, the team gathered samples samples from 720 men and 783 women and compared their blood pressure levels, information about how often they consume coffee, and other clinical data.

The findings were clear, said Arrigo Cicero, a professor at the department of medical and surgical sciences at the University of Bologna and first author of the study: Coffee drinkers have lower blood pressure. "Peripheral blood pressure was significantly lower in individuals consuming one to three cups of coffee a day than in non-coffee drinkers," he said.