Drinking coffee could benefit heart, help you live longer: Study

Contrary to worries among some doctors and the public, drinking coffee may protect your heart instead of causing or worsening heart problems, find a new study.

According to three research abstracts, drinking two to three cups of coffee daily has been associated with a 10 per cent to 15 per cent lower risk of getting heart disease, heart failure or a heart rhythm problem, or dying early for any reason, CNN reported. "We found coffee drinking had either a neutral effect -- meaning that it did no harm -- or was associated with benefits to heart health," said researcher Peter M. Kistler from the University of Melbourne.

For all the studies, the researchers used data from UK Biobank, which follows the health outcomes of more than 500,000 people for at least 10 years. When joining the registry, participants reported that their coffee consumption fell on a range from up to a cup to six cups or more daily. The authors of the current research wanted to examine the relationship between coffee drinking and heart rhythm problems (arrhythmias); cardiovascular disease, including coronary heart disease, heart failure and stroke; and total and heart-related deaths among people with and without heart disease.

"Because coffee can quicken heart rate, some people worry that drinking it could trigger or worsen certain heart issues. This is where general medical advice to stop drinking coffee may come from. But our data suggest that daily coffee intake shouldn't be discouraged, but rather included as a part of a healthy diet for people with and without heart disease," said Peter M. Kistler, MD, professor and head of arrhythmia research at the Alfred Hospital and Baker Heart Institute in Melbourne, Australia, and the study's senior author.

The first study focused on more than 382,500 adults who did not have heart disease and was age 57 on average. Participants who drank two to three cups of coffee daily had the lowest risk for later developing heart problems, the researchers found. People who drank roughly one cup of coffee per day had the lowest risk of having a strokeor dying from cardiovascular disease.

Another study looked into the relationships between different types of coffee -- caffeinated ground, caffeinated instant and decaffeinated -- and the same health outcomes. Whether the decaf coffee was ground or instant wasn't specified. Drinking one to five cups of ground or instant coffee a day was linked with lower risks of having arrhythmia, heart disease or failure, or stroke. Drinking two to three cups of any type of coffee every day was associated with a lower risk of dying early or from heart disease.

Participants analysed in a third study were those who already had arrhythmia or a type of cardiovascular disease. For people with cardiovascular disease, no level of coffee intake was found to be linked with developing arrhythmia. Of the adults with arrhythmia, coffee intake -- especially one cup per day -- was associated with a lesser risk of premature death.

There are several important limitations to these studies. Researchers were unable to control for dietary factors that may play a role in cardiovascular disease, nor were they able to adjust for any creamers, milk or sugar consumed. Participants were predominantly white, so additional studies are needed to determine whether these findings extend to other populations. Finally, coffee intake was based on self-report via a questionnaire fielded at study entry.

This should be considered when interpreting the study findings, though Kistler noted that research suggests people's dietary habits don't change much in adulthood or over time. Kistler said the results should be validated in randomized trials.

(Inputs from Agency)