Coffee drinkers who have been drinking coffee for a long time have another reason to continue their drinking habit.
A new study presented in the Cardiovascular Disease Epidemiology and Prevention and Nutrition, Physical Activity, and Metabolism 2010 Conference indicated that people who drank coffee were associated with lower risk of having arrhythmia.
The researcher studied the eating and drinking habits of 130,054 participants in the Kaiser Permanente health plan and their incidence of cardiovascular diseases. The researchers found that people who drank coffee have a lower risk of getting arrhythmia.
Furthermore the more coffee they drank, the greater the protection. For example, individuals who drank 1-3 cups of coffee per day had 7% lower risk of being hospitalized for any arrhythmia, while individuals who dank more than 4 cups per day have 18% lower risk.
The researchers also looked at the risk reduction among individuals who drank decaffeinated coffee, but found no protective effects, which indicates caffeine played a major role.
At present, the researchers do not know the exact mechanisms of the protective effect, but believe it is related to the inhibitory effect of caffeine on a compound, adenosine, that stimulates arrhythmia.
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Hasan AS et. al. EPI/PNAM 2010; March 2-5, 2010, San Francisco, CA. Abstract P461.
