Does a Coffee a Day Really Keep Heart Attacks Away?

Answer 1

Q: I heard that coffee was not good for health, for it disturbed our metabolism. But some experts believe that coffee does good to the heart. I’m totally confused now. Is coffee good or bad for health? A: Recently, an Australian newspaper suggests that “A short black a day can keep heart attack at bay.” New evidence discovered by U.S. scientists shows that coffee has a protective effect on heart failure and stroke. They claim that taking an extra cup of coffee a week reduces the risk of heart failure by 7% and the risk of stroke by 8%. However, we do not know exactly whether it is coffee or other behavior related to drinking coffee that leads to this correlation. [URIS id=4743] There is another reason why people with heart failure and stroke drink less coffee. For example, for some medical reasons you need to limit your intake or even are unable to make a cup of coffee yourself. This doesn’t mean that you can’t drink another cup of coffee. A review summarizing 20 observational studies from 2014 to the present found that people who drink the most coffee have a longer lifespan than those who drink less. <!--nextpage--> Researchers have confirmed that high blood pressure, high blood cholesterol, and aging increase the risk of heart disease. They also found that drinking more coffee leads to lower risk of heart failure and stroke. You must understand that the research is not about heart disease, yet it's about heart failure and shock, both of which are not the same thing as heart disease. The cause of heart disease is short-term ischemia or hypoxia due to myocardial cell death; heart failure means the heart can’t pump enough blood; stroke is caused by insufficient blood supply to the brain because of blocked or broken blood vessels. These differences are crucial, because while some things in drinking coffee may be beneficial to cardiomyocytes, they are not necessarily beneficial to the heart and brain. [URIS id=4743] So is coffee good for health? Well, if you smoke, then you'd better not drink coffee. A well-documented review suggests that regular drinking of coffee increases the risk of lung cancer for smokers. For people with high blood pressure, caffeine in coffee immediately raises blood pressure, and the effect lasts for hours. However, there is no evidence that this will increase the risk of heart disease. There are many benefits in drinking coffee, including lowering the risk of type 2 diabetes, prostate cancer, and liver cancer and bringing a longer life expectancy. Now, for your own good, it's time to consider developing the habit of drinking coffee every day.   Related FAQs: http://healthtopquestions.com/?p=396 http://healthtopquestions.com/?p=407 http://healthtopquestions.com/?p=1669