DISCLAIMER – This blog post was written before drinking my morning cup of coffee! Some thoughts may be blurry!
SECOND DISCLAIMER – the “grind the data” phrase was from an article in JACC Electrophsysiology – I wish I had come up with it on my own!
This is as far as I got with latte art 🙂
I get this question a lot – “I heard that coffee is bad for your heart. If I have AFIB can I drink coffee?”
Guess what – coffee is good for your heart and may even reduce the incidence of heart arrhythmias.
This graph is from a Kaiser Permanente study that followed 130,054 individuals in California. It looked at habitual coffee consumption and risk of hospitalization from arrhythmias.
Why does coffee help with arrhythmias? One theory is that coffee inhibits endogenous adenosine production in the heart. Adenosine shortens the atrial refractory period, thereby making the heart tissue more excitable and promoting arrhythmias. By inhibiting adenosine, therefore, coffee reduces one’s propensity to arrhythmias.
In very high doses, coffee (because it is a stimulant) may increase heart arrhythmias.
So what is my advice to patients??
- Drink 1-3 “cups” of coffee per day. (not 1-3 “grande” “venti” and “trenta”)
- Remember, espresso has less caffeine than brewed coffee
- Avoid sugar in your coffee – it may negate the beneficial effect of coffee