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In men who smoke, drinking coffee and tea may reduce the risk of stroke caused by a blockage, findings of a new study hint. "Coffee and tea consumption could potentially reduce the risk of stroke because these beverages have antioxidant properties," Dr Susanna C. Larsson, of the Karolinska Institute, Stockholm, Sweden, and colleagues explain in the journal Stroke.

Larsson's team examined ties between consumption of coffee and tea and risk of different types of stroke – such as cerebral haemorrhage and subarachnoid haemorrhage, both of which are strokes caused by bleeding in the brain, and cerebral infarction, which is a more common type of stroke caused by blockage of an artery that supplies blood to the brain. This type of stroke is often caused by hardening of the arteries (atherosclerosis).

The study included 26,556 adult male Finnish smokers participating in a large cancer prevention study who provided information on diet, including coffee and tea drinking, at the start of the study. None of the men had a history of stroke at the outset.

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