There is an association between drinking coffee — particularly two to three cups each day — and a lower risk of new or worsening heart disease, a new series of studies shows.  

The Hill reports, “There is an association between drinking coffee – particularly two to three cups each day – and a lower risk of new or worsening heart disease.”

Researchers posited in a study that “used data from the U.K. Biobank, a database with medical information from more than 500,000 people who were tracked over a period of at least 10 years.”

“We found coffee drinking had either a neutral effect—meaning that it did no harm—or was associated with benefits to heart health,” Peter M. Kistler, head of arrhythmia research at the Alfred Hospital and Baker Heart Institute in Melbourne, Australia, said in a news release. 

“Clinicians generally have some apprehension about people with known cardiovascular disease or arrhythmias continuing to drink coffee, so they often err on the side of caution and advise them to stop drinking it altogether due to fears that it may trigger dangerous heart rhythms,” Kistler said. “But our study shows that regular coffee intake is safe and could be part of a healthy diet for people with heart disease.” 

Another study used data from 382,535 individuals — whose average age was 57 — without diagnosed heart disease to find a link between coffee drinking and stroke or other heart ailments. The team also found that having two to three cups a day was associated with the greatest benefit, with a 10 to 15 percent lower risk of developing coronary heart disease, heart failure, a heart rhythm problem, or dying for any reason.

Then researchers checked for a difference in health outcomes for those who drank instant or ground coffee and decaf or regular. Decreased death rates were measured across all types of consumption. The research found that caffeinated coffee is preferable.

The findings are set for presentation at the American College of Cardiology’s upcoming annual meeting and should be considered preliminary until peer-reviewed.

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