Could your daily coffee habit actually be good for you?

According to new research, drinking coffee regularly may help women cut their chances of suffering a stroke.

Findings published in the journal Circulation, which is issued by the American Heart Association, suggest that drinking coffee every day can offer various levels of protection against stroke.

For example, women who drank four or more cups of coffee each day reduced their risk by 20 percent in comparison with subjects who drink less than one cup each month.

At the same time, people who drank between five and seven cups of coffee each week saw their risk reduced by 12 percent and those who consumed two or three cups a day were 19 percent less likely to have a stroke.

Lead researcher Esther Lopez-Garcia said the benefits from coffee-drinking were probably not due to caffeine. In fact, study participants who consumed tea and sodas regularly did not cut their risk of stroke.

“Antioxidants in coffee lower inflammation and improve blood vessel function,” Lopez-Garcia said.

A 2005 study conducted at the University of Scranton revealed coffee was the top source of Americans’ antioxidant intake.