Coffee is a complex mixture of compounds that may have either beneficial or harmful effects on the cardiovascular system. Randomized controlled trials have confirmed the cholesterol-raising effect of diterpenes present in boiled coffee, which may contribute to the risk of coronary heart disease associated with unfiltered coffee consumption.
A detailed study examining the relationship between coffee and risk of myocardial infarction incorporated a genetic polymorphism associated with a slower rate of caffeine metabolism and provides strong evidence that caffeine also affects risk of coronary heart disease.yet Several studies have reported a protective effect of moderate coffee consumption, which suggests that coffee contains other compounds that may be beneficial. Thus, the association between coffee consumption and coronary heart disease have been inconclusive.
A recently published study in The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition , has highlighted that excess coffee consumption raises risk of heart problems , including tachycardia and heart palpitations.
The aim of the current study was to investigate if cardiovascular symptoms can lead to alterations in habitual patterns of coffee consumption.
Researchers used information from up to 390,435 European ancestry participants in the UK Biobank, aged 39–73 y. Habitual coffee consumption was self-reported, and systolic blood pressure (SBP), diastolic blood pressure (DBP), and heart rate were measured at baseline. Cardiovascular symptoms at baseline were based on hospital diagnoses, primary care records, and/or self-report. Mendelian randomization (MR) was used to examine genetic evidence for a causal association between SBP, DBP, and heart rate with habitual coffee consumption.
Data analysis revealed some interesting facts.
- Participants with essential hypertension, angina, or heart arrhythmia were all more likely to drink less caffeinated coffee and to be non-habitual or decaffeinated coffee drinkers compared with those who did not report related symptoms (P ≤ 3.5 × 10−8 for all comparisons).
- Higher SBP and DBP were associated with lower caffeinated coffee consumption at baseline, with consistent genetic evidence to support a causal explanation across all methods [MR-Egger regression (MREggr) β: −0.21 cups/d (95% CI: −0.34, −0.07) per 10 mm Hg higher SBP and −0.33 (−0.61, −0.07) per 10 mm Hg higher DBP)].
- In genetic analyses, higher resting heart rate was associated with a greater odds of being a decaffeinated coffee drinker (MREggr OR: 1.71; 95% CI: 1.31, 2.21) per 10 beats/min).
"We provide causal genetic evidence for cardiovascular system–driven influences on habitual coffee intakes, suggesting that people tend to naturally regulate their coffee consumption based on blood pressure levels and heart rate. These findings suggest that observational studies of habitual coffee intakes are prone to influences by reverse causation, and caution is required when inferred health benefits result from comparisons with coffee abstainers or decaffeinated coffee drinkers."the team concluded.
For the full article follow the link: https://doi.org/10.1093/ajcn/nqab014
Primary source: The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition
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