That morning cup o' joe or mid-afternoon coffee pick-me-up may play a
role in keeping your heart healthy, depending on how much you drink.
A
meta-analysis of five previously completed prospective studies finds
that drinking two 8-ounce cups of coffee a day gives people an 11% lower
risk of developing heart failure, compared to people who don't consume
any coffee.
The analysis, published in the American Heart
Association's journal Circulation: Heart Failure, reviewed five studies
conducted between 2001 and 2011 and included a total of 140,220
patients.
"Heart failure shares risk factors with other
cardiovascular diseases and high blood pressure and Type 2 diabetes are
particularly strong risk factors for heart failure," explains Elizabeth
Mostofsky, the first author of the analysis and a post doctoral research
fellow at the Cardiovascular Epidemiology Research Unit at Beth Israel
Deaconess Medical Center.
"We think coffee is lowering the risk for diabetes, which is lowering the risk for heart failure."
But
don't reach for the coffee pot just yet. Drinking two cups of coffee
may help prevent heart failure, but Mostofsky and her colleagues found
that drinking more than four cups a day seems to undermine the
protective quality.
"Protection slowly decreases with more
consumption and it seems there's no further benefit for people who drink
five or more servings a day and there may actually be potential for
harm," says Mostofsky.
The studies that made up the analysis did
not take into account if participants drank caffeinated or decaffeinated
coffee. However, Mostofsky notes that the studies were conducted in
Finland and Sweden, two countries where caffeinated coffee is typically
consumed. The studies also did not look at how the coffee was brewed,
how strong it was, or what time of day the participants drank it.
Still,
the analysis jibes with previous research that shows two cups of coffee
may be good for you. Last month, the New England Journal of Medicine
published a study that found drinking at least two cups of coffee was
linked to a longer life.
For its part, the American Heart
Associated recommends that patients with heart failure limit their
intake to no more two 8-ounce cups of coffee or any other caffeinated
beverage, a day.
