A little coffee seems okay for heart
Thursday March 4th, 2010
Normal moderate coffee drinking does not pose any risk of serious heart rhythm disturbances - and may even protect the heart, a major conference has been told.
It
is known that very large doses of caffeine, found in coffee, can produce
heart rhythm disturbances. Dr Arthur Klatsky of Kaiser Permanente Division
of Research in Oakland, California, USA, and his team investigated more
"normal" caffeine doses.
They analysed figures on 130,054 men and women, between 18 and 90 years old, of whom two per cent were hospitalised for heart rhythm disturbances of any type.
Those who reported drinking four or more cups of coffee each day had an 18 per cent lower risk of hospitalisation for heart rhythm disturbances than those drinking no coffee. This reduction in risk applied to men and women, different ethnic groups, and smokers and non-smokers.
One to three cups of coffee a day was linked to a seven per cent reduction in risk compared with those drinking no coffee.
The study was presenting the study at the American Heart Association's 50th Annual Conference on Cardiovascular Disease Epidemiology and Prevention in San Francisco on March 5.
Dr Klatsky said: "Coffee drinking is related to lower risk of hospitalisation for rhythm problems, but the association does not prove cause and effect, or that coffee has a protective effect.
"However, these data might be reassuring to people who drink moderate amounts of coffee that their habit is not likely to cause a major rhythm disturbance."
The researchers note the findings may be surprising because patients frequently report palpitations after drinking coffee. Backing up this finding is previous research from Denmark which found no effect of coffee intake on risk of atrial fibrillation, the most common type of heart rhythm disturbance.
Tags: Diet & Food | Heart Health | North America
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