Is Drinking Coffee Bad for the Heart?

If you're a young someone suffering from mild hypertension then it might be a good idea to lay off that hot cup of coffee for a while. A new research presented at the ESC Congress - the annual congress of the European Society of Cardiology (ESC) - in London suggests that those who drink more than four cups of coffee a day expose themselves to an increased risk of heart attack, diabetes and other cardiovascular diseases.This isn't the first time coffee has been linked to heart disease so you'll find plenty of contradictory studies, some of which suggest that coffee isn't linked to heart disease as all. In fact a 2014 study conducted by the National Cancer Institute in the United States involving around 27,000 participants proved that coffee lowers the risk of cardiovascular diseases and diabetes. However, it's important to note that these participants were not suffering from hypertension or any other known problem.The study was conducted over a 12 year period with more than 1200 patients between the ages of 18 and 45. Researchers found that the risk of cardiovascular diseases in heavy coffee drinkers went up almost four times than usual and in moderate coffee drinkers, it was tripled.

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The study included non-diabetic patients who had untreated stage 1 hypertension (systolic blood pressure between 140 and 159 mmHg and/or diastolic blood pressure between 90 and 99 mmHg). Coffee consumption was categorised by the number of caffeine-containing cups per day: non-drinkers (0), moderate (one-three) and heavy drinkers (four or more). As Type 2 diabetes often develops in hypertensive patients at a later stage, the study examined the long-term effect of coffee drinking on the risk of developing pre-diabetes. A linear relationship was found, with a 100 percent (30 percent-210 percent) increased risk of pre-diabetes in the heavy coffee drinkers.

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"Our study shows that coffee use is linearly associated with increased risk of cardiovascular events in young adults with mild hypertension. We found that drinking coffee increases the risk of pre-diabetes in young adults with hypertension who are slow caffeine metabolisers," ," said lead researcher Dr Lucio Mos, cardiologist at Hospital of San Daniele del Friuli in Udine, Italy.

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Slow caffeine metabolisers have longer exposure to the detrimental effects of caffeine on glucose metabolism. "The risk is even greater if they are overweight or obese, and if they are heavy coffee drinkers. Thus, the effect of coffee on pre-diabetes depends on the amount of daily coffee intake and genetic background," he said. The blood pressure patients should be aware that coffee consumption may increase their risk of developing more severe hypertension and diabetes in later life and should keep consumption to a minimum, the authors said.

With inputs from IANS