DRINKING two or three cups of coffee every day may benefit the heart, according to studies being presented at the American College of Cardiology’s 71st Annual Scientific Session.

The American College of Cardiology said Thursday that consumption of the caffeinated beverage is associated with a lower risk of heart disease and dangerous heart rhythms, as well as a longer lifespan.

The trends also remained true for those with and without cardiovascular disease, with researchers saying the analyses assure that coffee is not linked to new or worsening heart disease.

Using data from the U.K. BioBank database from over half a million people who were followed for at least a decade, researchers looked at varying levels of coffee consumption, ranging from a cup to more than six cups every day and the relationship with heart rhythm problems, cardiovascular disease, stroke and total heart-related deaths among those with and without cardiovascular disease.

The patients were sorted according to how much coffee they reported drinking every day from zero to more than five.

Overall, the researchers either found no impact or significant reductions in cardiovascular risk after controlling for exercise, alcohol, smoking, diabetes and high blood pressure. In the first study, researchers examined data from 382,535 individuals without known heart disease to see whether drinking coffee played a part in the development of heart disease or stroke over 10 years.

In general, having two to three cups a day brought the greatest benefit, including a 10% to a 15% lower risk of developing coronary heart disease, heart failure, a heart rhythm problem or dying.

The risk of stroke or heart-related death was lowest for those who drank one cup of coffee.

A second study included 34,279 individuals who had some form of cardiovascular disease.

Coffee intake at two to three cups a day was associated with lower odds of dying compared with having no coffee. Consuming any amount of coffee was not associated with a higher risk of heart rhythm problems.

For those with arrhythmia, drinking coffee was also associated with a lower risk of death.

The third study looked at whether there were any differences in the relationship between coffee and cardiovascular disease depending on whether someone drank instant or ground coffee or caffeinated or decaf.

Again, the researchers found two to three cups were associated with the lowest risk of arrhythmias, artery blockages, stroke or heart failure regardless of whether the coffee was ground or instant.

Decaf coffee did not have favorable effects against incident arrhythmia but did reduce cardiovascular disease, with the exception of heart failure.

(SD-Agencies)