Is coffee the miracle drug?

Coffee and Arrhythmias

For all you coffee drinkers out there that are concerned it is costing your heart some trouble...have no fear for a new large survey is here.

Brought on by the common concern that caffeine can make one's "heart flutter" researchers at Kaiser Permanente in Oakland, California decided to look into the amount of hospitalizations that java drinkers have versus those that avoid it altogether. They have found that coffee is not a determining factor for heart hospitalizations....so keep chugging away.

Not only does coffee not send you to the hospital clutching your chest but evidence from this research show that it may keep you from making that trip! The study began in the 1970s and 1980s with 130,000 men and women ranging in age from 18 to 90 years old. Compared with those that avoid coffee altogether, of those drinking 4+ cups per day were 18% less likely to be hospitalized for heart arrhythmia. Those drinking 1-3 cups were only 7% less likely to be hospitalized.

You may be wondering about the other lifestyle choices these 130,000 people made such as smoking. The researchers found that even when smoking status, gender, weight, cardiac history and education differences were all taken into account, the 4+ cups of coffee a day still kept them from a trip to the hospital for their heart. One blogger disagrees with the results: "I do not blame coffee intake FOR the arrhythmia but I do blame it for drastically making it worse. Last year, I gave up coffee for Lent. After three weeks, the arrhythmia was almost gone." So is this one person that blogged about this the exception or are there others like him?

Coffee and Strokes

Not long after the discovery was released about coffee not linked to arrhythmias it was determined that coffee was also associated with lower stroke risk! The study began in the mid 1990s with health records of more than 20,000 European men and women between 39 and 79 years old. The research was done at the University of Cambridge in England with people that were free of stroke history, heart disease and cancer in the mid 1990s. There were 855 strokes in these 120,000 people over the next 12 years. As it turns out though, coffee drinkers (drip grind, decaffeinated or even lowly instant) were only 71 percent as likely to have had a stroke as those that avoided the java. Smoking, physical activity, weight, tea drinking, blood pressure and cholesterol were all taken into account in this research.

This research did not seem to be dose-dependent: those that drank one cup of coffee a day or four had the same percentage of fewer strokes. Even with these results, the mechanism of action is unknown. There have even been some studies showing that because of the high antioxidant amounts in coffee, it improves insulin sensitivity and glucose metabolism. Thus, it is beneficial for those with diabetes by improving the body's response to insulin! Why is drinking coffee associated with lower stroke risk, less hospitalizations due to arrhythmias and better insulin sensitivity? Is it truly a miracle drug after all?

The coffee and arrhythmia link: http://www.sciencenews.org/view/generic/id/56862/title/Coffee_not_linked_to_heart_arrhythmia
The coffee and stroke link: http://www.sciencenews.org/view/generic/id/56701/title/Coffee_associated_with_lower_stroke_risk