A cup of coffee in the morning and another in the afternoon may be helpful in keeping a healthy heart depending on the amount taken.
According to a meta-analysis of five studies that have been previously completed, consuming two cups of coffee daily amounting to 8-ounce per cup can lower the risk of having heart failure by 11% compared to those who do not drink coffee at all.
The results were derived after careful examination of five studies performed from 2001 and 2011 to a total of 140,220 patients.
Heart failure have the same risk factors as other cardiovascular problems with Type 2 diabetes and high blood pressure as especially strong risk factors, said Elizabeth Mostofsky, the original author of the study and a fellow of post doctoral research at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center's Cardiovascular Epidemiology Research Unit.
Mostofsky further added that they think that coffee lowers the chances of having diabetes which reduces the possibility of having heart failure.
Heart Failure Risk
However, Mostofsky and her co-researchers provide a caution that only two cups of coffeee can help prevent the problem of heart failure and taking over four cups appears to weaken coffee's quality of protection and may even be harmful to the body.
The studies comprising the analysis did not consider the type of coffee consumed whether they contain caffeine or not. But, the author notes that they performed the studies in Sweden and Finland, two nations known for usually consuming caffeinated coffee. Also, the studies did not consider the way the coffee was brewed, its strength and the time of day it was taken by the participants.
Still, the study coincides with past research showing that two coffee cups may be beneficial. In the past month, a study was published in the New England Journal of Medicine that consuming a minimum of two coffee cups daily was associated to a lengthier life.
As for the American Heart Association, it recommends patients suffering from heart failure to minimize their daily intake to a maximum of two 8-ounce cups of coffee or some other beverage containing caffeine.
The study is published in the journal of the American Heart Association entitled Circulation: Heart Failure.
