Daily coffee reduces risk of heart failure, study suggests

New research suggested that having more cups of caffeinated coffee a day may mitigate the risk of heart failure.

The authors of the study, however, stated a caveat and that is decaffeinated coffee does not appear to provide the same protection as caffeine-rich blends.

Study senior author Dr. David Kao said, assistant professor of cardiology and medical director at the Colorado Center for Personalized Medicine at the University of Colorado School of Medicine said: “The association between caffeine and heart failure risk reduction was surprising.

He added: Coffee and caffeine are often considered by the general population to be ‘bad’ for the heart because people associate them with palpitations, high blood pressure, etc.”

“However, the consistent relationship between increasing caffeine consumption and decreasing heart failure risk turns that assumption on its head,” said Kao.

The findings of the study were published in the journal Circulation: Heart Failure.

Also read: World coffee market will move to deficit in 2021-22

Still, the findings cannot prove cause and effect, and they also don’t mean that coffee is any substitute for healthy living when it comes to your heart, Kao noted.

“There is not yet enough clear evidence to recommend increasing coffee consumption to decrease the risk of heart disease with the same strength and certainty as stopping smoking, losing weight, or exercising,” he stated in the study.

Methodology

For the study, Kao and his colleagues examined data collected from over 21,000 US adults who took part in three major studies. Participants were followed for at least 10 years.

In all three studies, drinking one or more cups of caffeinated coffee a day was associated with a significant decline in long-term risk of heart failure.

The findings for decaffeinated coffee were different. One study found no link between decaf and heart failure risk, while another found that decaf was associated with a significantly higher risk of heart failure.

Further analysis showed that caffeine from any source appeared to be associated with decreased heart failure risk, and that caffeine played at least some role in coffee’s apparent heart benefit, according to the authors.