Two new studies from the Alfred Hospital and Baker Heart Institute found drinking coffee—particularly two to three cups a day—is not only associated with a lower risk of heart disease and dangerous heart rhythms but also with living longer.
These trends held true for both people with and without cardiovascular disease.
The findings provide reassurance that coffee isn’t tied to new or worsening heart disease and may actually be heart protective.
The studies were presented at the American College of Cardiology’s 71st Annual Scientific Session and were conducted by Peter M. Kistler et al.
In the study, the team used data from the UK BioBank.
For the first study, researchers examined data from 382,535 individuals without known heart disease to see whether coffee drinking played a role in the development of heart disease or stroke during the 10 years of follow-up.
Participants’ average age was 57 years and a half were women.
In general, having two to three cups of coffee a day was associated with the greatest benefit, translating to a 10%-15% lower risk of developing coronary heart disease, heart failure, a heart rhythm problem, or dying for any reason.
The risk of stroke or heart-related death was lowest among people who drank one cup of coffee a day.
Researchers did find a U-shaped relationship between coffee intake and new heart rhythm problems.
The maximum benefit was seen among people drinking two to three cups of coffee a day with less benefit seen among those drinking more or less.
The second study included 34,279 individuals who had some form of cardiovascular disease at baseline. Coffee intake at two to three cups a day was associated with lower odds of dying compared with having no coffee.
Importantly, consuming any amount of coffee was not associated with a higher risk of heart rhythm problems, including atrial fibrillation (AFib) or atrial flutter, which Kistler said is often what clinicians are concerned about.
Of the 24,111 people included in the analysis who had an arrhythmia at baseline, drinking coffee was linked to a lower risk of death.
For example, people with Afib who drank one cup of coffee a day were nearly 20% less likely to die than non-coffee drinkers.
Although two to three cups of coffee a day seemed to be the most favorable overall, the team that people shouldn’t increase their coffee intake, particularly if it makes them feel anxious or uncomfortable.
Recent studies have found a coffee or tea break could help protect your liver health, and drinking coffee may reduce your risk of Alzheimer’s disease, which is highly relevant to the current topic.
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In a recent study at the University of Colorado and published in Circulation: Heart Failure, researchers found that drinking one or more cups of caffeinated coffee may reduce heart failure risk.
The risks and benefits of drinking coffee have been topics of ongoing scientific interest due to the popularity and frequency of consumption worldwide.
In the study, the team used machine learning to examine data from the Framingham Heart Study and referenced it against data from other two big health studies to help confirm their findings.
Each study included at least 10 years of follow-up, and, collectively, the studies provided information on more than 21,000 U.S. adult participants.
The researchers found that people who drank one or more cups of caffeinated coffee had a decreased long-term heart failure risk.
In the Framingham Heart and the Cardiovascular Health studies, the risk of heart failure over the course of decades decreased by 5-to-12% per cup per day of coffee, compared with no coffee consumption.
In the Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities Study, the risk of heart failure did not change between 0 to 1 cup per day of coffee; however, it was about 30% lower in people who drank at least 2 cups a day.
Drinking decaffeinated coffee appeared to have an opposite effect on heart failure risk – strongly increasing the risk of heart failure in the Framingham Heart Study.
In the Cardiovascular Health Study, however, there was no increase or decrease in risk of heart failure associated with drinking decaffeinated coffee.
When the researchers examined this further, they found caffeine consumption from any source appeared to be linked to decreased heart failure risk, and caffeine was at least part of the reason for the apparent benefit from drinking more coffee.
The team says coffee and caffeine are often considered to be ‘bad’ for the heart because people associate them with palpitations, high blood pressure, etc.
The consistent relationship between increasing caffeine consumption and decreasing heart failure risk turns that assumption on its head.
According to the federal dietary guidelines, three to five 8-ounce cups of coffee per day can be part of a healthy diet, but that only refers to plain black coffee.
If you care about heart health, please read studies about high blood pressure drugs that may increase heart failure risk, and findings of a simple way to reduce irregular heartbeat.
For more information about heart health, please see recent studies about how COVID affects the heart, and results showing that drinking coffee this way can help prevent stroke, heart disease.
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