Is Coffee Bad for the Heart? Drinking Coffee May Reduce the Risk of Atrial Fibrillation Recurrence

Many people experience a racing heartbeat or even palpitations after drinking a cup of coffee. This experience has cemented the belief that "coffee is bad for the heart" in the public mind, and doctors often advise patients with arrhythmias to quit coffee. However, a recent study discovered that caffeine, commonly thought to disrupt heart rhythm, might instead help maintain a stable cardiac rhythm.

Published on November 9 in the medical journal JAMA, the study was conducted by an international research team from institutions including the University of California, San Francisco. Through a randomized clinical trial involving patients with Atrial Fibrillation (AF), the researchers found that daily consumption of caffeinated coffee significantly reduced the risk of AF recurrence.

Atrial Fibrillation is one of the most common types of cardiac arrhythmia. It causes an irregular heartbeat, abnormal blood flow, increases the risk of blood clots, and can lead to stroke and heart failure. Globally, approximately one in three people may develop AF in their lifetime. In conventional understanding, caffeine has often been considered a trigger for arrhythmias. Many patients also report that drinking coffee induces their AF episodes.

"We tell patients to 'avoid coffee' every day, but this advice has never actually been confirmed by a randomized controlled trial," the authors wrote in the paper. Noting that previous observational studies had shown no clear link between coffee and AF risk, they added, "We wanted to use a rigorous randomized controlled trial to determine which is better for AF patients: drinking coffee or abstaining from it."

After successfully restoring normal heart rhythm, the patients were randomly divided into two groups. One group was required to completely abstain from all caffeinated coffee and other beverages. The other group was encouraged to continue drinking coffee, consuming at least one cup per day.

"Our findings indicate that for patients with AF, consuming one cup of coffee per day is associated with a lower rate of AF recurrence compared to abstaining from coffee and caffeine products," the authors concluded. "This suggests that, under physician guidance, coffee drinkers with a history of AF may not need to regard coffee as a 'forbidden' substance anymore."