How Coffee Could Help Calm Your Rosacea
by
Sarah Healy
How Coffee Could Help Calm Your RosaceaA new study, published in JAMA Dermatology, found that women who drank four or more servings of caffeinated coffee every day were less likely to suffer from rosacea—an inflammatory skin disease that causes redness, flushing, bumps, and irritation, usually on the face—than those who drank it less than once a month.
The study’s authors were interested in coffee and rosacea because they thought the relationship between the two could go either way. “Coffee is known to decrease vasodilation and have immunosuppressant effects, which may potentially decrease the risk of rosacea,” they wrote in their paper. “However the heat from coffee may be a trigger for rosacea flares.”
The study of more than 82,000 participants found that higher caffeine intake was associated with lower risk of the skin condition.
"Overall, participants who drank four cups of coffee per day were less likely to develop rosacea compared with participants who did not drink coffee", the study read.
Caffeine isn't just found in coffee, however. The study was done using coffee, tea, fizzy drinks and chocolate.
The authors hypothesized that caffeine's "vasoconstrictive and immune suppressive effects" might decrease the risk of rosacea. In layman's terms, that means that as caffeine narrows blood vessels, less blood rushes through and therefore there's less flush to your face.
Decaffeinated coffee wasn't associated with decreased rosacea risk in the study.
Are you willing to drink more coffee if it means decreasing the risk of rosacea? Let us know in the comments below!