By Margarita Nahapetyan
Good news for coffee lovers. Moderate coffee drinking actually reduces the likelihood of being hospitalized for heart rhythm disturbances (irregular heartbeats), says a new research from California.
Despite the belief that coffee can cause the heart to go into palpitations, a new study suggests that those individuals who drink coffee in moderation may be at a lower risk of developing heart rhythm problems. More than 130,000 men and women took part in the study. All of them were members of Kaiser Permanente, a large prepaid health care plan. During routine health exams between the years 1978 and 1985, the participants were asked to provide information about coffee drinking and other habits, such alcohol consumption or smoking.
The findings showed:
- 27 per cent of the participants did not drink coffee.
- 14 per cent drank less than one cup a day.
- 42 per cent drank between one and three cups a day.
- 17 per cent drank four or more cups of coffee on a daily basis.
Over the course of the follow-up, about 2 per cent of the participants had hospital stays because of heart abnormalities, the most common being atrial fibrillation. However, the risk was 18 per cent lower among those who were drinking four or more cups of coffee a day, compared to those who did not drink coffee at all, said study researcher Dr. Arthur L. Klatsky, senior consultant in cardiology at Kaiser Permanente Division of Research in Oakland, California. Those who had drunk between one and three cups of coffee on a daily basis had a 7 per cent reduction of risk.
According to the experts, the 18 per cent reduction in risk of hospitalization for those who drank four or more cups of coffee daily was the same among men and women, between different ethnic groups and between smokers and non-smokers.
Dr. Klatsky and his fellow colleagues did not offer any reason why coffee might reduce heart rhythm disturbances. It could be that coffee lovers eat better diets or are physically more active. "We can't say for sure that it might not be related to minor heart rhythm problems that do not require hospitalization," Dr. Klatsky said.
Heart rhythm disorder is a condition in the heart's electrical system that causes it to beat too fast, too slow or irregularly. According to the Atlanta-based U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data, atrial fibrillation, a rapid, irregular heart beat that is the most common among heart rhythm disorders, will affect an estimated 2.7 million Americans in 2010.
The findings are scheduled for presentation this week at the American Heart Association's 50th Annual Conference on Cardiovascular Disease Epidemiology and Prevention in San Francisco.
Recommended Comments
There are no comments to display.
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now