Many people are afraid to drink coffee because it is considered to be quite dangerous for the heart. But coffee turnes out to hearth friendly. Coffee only gives a small effect on hypertension patients and is still quite tolerable.
The discovery made by heart researchers can make coffee drinkers in love. The results of this study were presented at a conference this week the American Heart Association (AHA) in San Francisco.
Coffee drinkers have a lower risk for abnormal heart rhythm disease. There is no indication that drinking a cup of coffee a day will increase the risk of atherosclerosis or thickening of blood vessel walls that can cause heart attacks.
In addition, other ingredients in coffee other than caffeine may reduce the risk of diabetes for women who regularly drink.
But not all reports on the AHA’s annual conference on Cardiovascular Disease Epidemiology and Prevention and Nutrition, Physical Activity and Metabolism were really a good news for coffee lovers.
One report found a potential link between drinking coffee and high blood pressure. But do not worry, the effect is described as very simple or minimal.
A study of the heart’s rhythm by examining the 130,054 members of Kaiser Permanente Medical Care Program who has been treated in the hospital because of heart rhythm disturbances. Approximately 2 percent of those hospitalized for the disorder and the most common is the problem of atrial fibrillation.
Dr Arthur Klatsky, a senior cardiac consultant who led the study, said those who reported drinking 4 cups of coffee per day has an 18 percent lower risk of heart disease than those who do not drink coffee.
“It may be a surprise, because some people are afraid to drink coffee. And I do not think we’ll be ready to tell the people that they should drink coffee to prevent heart rhythm problems,” Klatsky said, as reported by USNews, Friday (5 / 3 / 2010).
This study does not give a reason why coffee may reduce heart rhythm problems. According to Klatsky, it could be because the coffee drinkers are on a diet or exercises more. But we also can not say with certainty that the coffee was not associated with minor (mild) heart rhythm problems which does not require hospital treatment.
In essence, coffee lovers do not need to stop drinking coffee just because they have problems with heart rhythm.
Another study that followed more than 3 000 men and women aged 20 years also found no relationship between coffee consumption and atherosclerosis for men and women whether black or white, smokers or nonsmokers. Participants in this study are people who do not consume coffee more than 4 cups a day.
“Based on these data, it seems that there is no substantial relationship between drinking coffee with an increase or decrease in atherosclerosis,” said Jared Reis, an epidemiologist at the U.S. National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute.
The third study, based on reports from the Women’s Health Study, explained that coffee drinkers experienced less diabetes type 2 (diabetes as a lifestyle).
Researchers compared 359 postmenopausal women newly diagnosed type 2 diabetes and 359 women without the disease. The results showed that women who drank 4 cups of caffeinated coffee a day are 56 percent lower risk of developing diabetes than those who do not drink coffee.
“What seems to reduce the risk from the effects of caffeine because a hormone binding protein,” said Dr. Liwei Chen, assistant professor of the University of California, Los Angeles. But according to Chen’s initial findings it still requires further study.
Other reports to ensure the consumption of 1-3 cups of coffee a day affects only slightly increased risk of high blood pressure comes from Dr. Liwei Chen, assistant professor of epidemiology at Louisiana State University School of Public Health. He uses data from six studies that included more than 172,000 participants.
“Based on our results, for the long-term coffee drinking may have a risk factor for hypertension, but the effect is not too big,” said Chen.
But Chen also suggested, that it is important for people to reduce consumption of coffee, if you are worried about blood pressure.





































