Drinking four cups of coffee a day may protect the heart, scientists said yesterday.
Despite the belief that coffee can cause the heart to go into palpitations, a study indicates moderate drinkers may be at a lower risk of having heart rhythm disturbances.
More than 130,000 men and women were studied. Those drinking four or more cups of coffee a day had an 18 per cent lower risk of going to hospital for heart disturbances.
Those who had drunk between one and three cups had a 7 per cent reduction of risk.
Tony Blair has blamed his heart problems while he was prime minister on too much strong coffee during an EU conference - and doctors advised him to cut back.
He was suffering from atrial fibrillation, the most common form of heart rhythm problem. Left untreated, it can increase the risk of heart attack.
But the latest research suggests his doctors may have been wrong - and coffee may have had nothing to do with his irregular heartbeat.
Lead investigator Dr Arthur Klatsky, a cardiologist at the Kaiser Permanente health insurance company, said the study did not conclusively prove coffee protects the heart - just that there was some sort of link.
He 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.'
Dr Klatsky said he believed moderate doses of caffeine may help the heart by blocking the action of the chemical adenosine, which can cause disturbed rhythm.
Other explanations for the association may include separate traits of coffee drinkers.
They may happen to do more exercise and have a better diet - but the study did not look at this.
Dr Klatsky said that although the study did not provide sufficient evidence to say that people should drink coffee to prevent rhythm problems, it did show that people with rhythm problems - or who are at risk of them - do not need to abstain from coffee.
He said: '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.'
But he warned that previous studies had indicated that excessive coffee consumption can increase the risk.
The study was presented at the American Heart Association conference in San Francisco.
Of the 130,054 people in the study, aged between 18 and 90, some 2 per cent ended up in hospital for rhythm disturbances. Half of them had atrial fibrillation.
The 18 per cent reduction in risk for those who drank four or more cups of coffee a day was the same among men and women, and between smokers and nonsmokers.
A total of 14 per cent of the participants reported drinking less than one cup of coffee a day; 42 per cent had one to three; 17 per cent had four or more; while the rest never drank coffee.
No comments:
Post a Comment