Posted on 03/02/2010 4:18:19 PM PST by freespirited
A study of 130,054 adults found that people who drank four cups or more of coffee daily had an 18 percent lower risk of being hospitalized for irregular heartbeats and other heart- rhythm conditions than noncoffee drinkers, researchers at Kaiser Permanente, an Oakland, California-based health system, said today. The risk of hospitalization was 7 percent lower for people who drank one to three cups of coffee daily...
Cardiac rhythm disorders are problems in the heart’s electrical systems that cause it to beat too fast, too slow or irregularly. Atrial fibrillation, a rapid, irregular heart beat that is the most common of these conditions, will affect an estimated 2.7 million Americans in 2010, according to the Atlanta-based U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
“People who are moderate coffee drinkers can be reassured that they are not doing harm because of their coffee drinking,” said Arthur Klatsky, the study’s lead investigator ...
The study looked at 130,054 adults who were members of the Kaiser Permanente health plan and had filled out questionnaires about their coffee- and tea-drinking habits from 1979 to 1985. The patients’ health status was followed until 2008.
The 18 percent reduction in risk of hospitalization for those who drank four or more cups of coffee daily was consistent for men and women, different ethnic groups and smokers and nonsmokers, according to the study.
The study shows “a progressive reduction in risk” of heart irregularities the more coffee people drank, Klatsky said. The research doesn’t prove a cause-and-effect relationship between reduced risk and coffee drinking or that coffee protects the heart against such irregularities, he said.
“We shouldn’t jump to the conclusion that there is a protective effect of coffee, although the study suggests there might be,” he said.
(Excerpt) Read more at businessweek.com ...
I’m gonna live forever! ;)
Coffee makes my heart beat irregularly. The doc said, well, FelineAIDS, if coffee makes your heart beat irregularly, then don’t drink coffee.
I promptly sued him for malpractice and am writing this from my yacht.
Surely they jest. Just half a cup of coffee or even too much chocolate, anything with lots of caffeine makes my heart beat very erratically. This study is a huge joke.
Ha! Ha!
I have the same issue with my heart and caffeine.
I’d like a large piece of property with a meadow, view of the mountains, cozy home and a nice creek. Looking for a lawyer, now....... (hee, hee)
Maybe the erratic beats cancel each other out so you have a regular beat. :-)
A nice hot cup of coffee near bedtime just makes me sleepy. It’s the warmth, I think.
If they’d give us back our smokes, we’d be off the Prozac.
I think caffeine makes my heart beat funny too.
You have to drink 4 cups in order for it to work, LOL! Up your intake, 1/2 cup won’t do.
People are different.
Alcohol of any amount makes me feel terrible. So I don’t drink. Why would I do something that makes me feel awful?
Yet for the majority of people a little wine is a good thing.
I drink milk every day. For many races this is an invitation to GI distress. But I love it. I have strong bones, too.
We have to treat each other as individuals.
As for coffee, bring it on. I love it and it makes me feel good.
“If they’d give us back our smokes, we’d be off the Prozac.”
We’d all probably be thinner, too.
Yay!!
Put on another pot!
I agree. Coffee wakes me up when things need to be done. I mean, the alternative: tea...makes ME sick. To each his own. If I drink tea, I will have to adoopt a Brit accent and hold the cup with my pinky up.
Now I have afib that won't go away (even after a cardioversion.) It looks like the next thing is an ablation.
NOW they say lots of coffee PREVENTS afib - so why am I drinking this decaff shit?
They’ve been saying for years that caffeine causes irregular heartbeats. Now they say it prevents it.
This is global-warming-think. It cuts down on snowy winters and it causes snowy winters.
They used to say a bullet to the brain was bad. Next they are going to tell me it is good.
Whenever my ticker gets irregular, I take some magnesium, and it goes back to normal.
LOL! nailed it.
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