Occasional Coffee Can Cause Heart Attack

A new study conducted at the Brown University School of Medicine in Providence, Rhode Island has found people enjoying the occasional cup of coffee to be at higher risk of heart attack than heavy drinkers of the beverage.

Conducted by Ana Baylin and colleagues, the study covered 503 patients who had suffered a non-fatal heart attack in Costa Rica between 1994 and 1998. Coffee consumption in the hours and days before the heart attack as well as the lifestyle and medical history of the participants were studied. The result was a correlation between consumption of coffee and higher risk of heart attack in a small percentage of non-regular coffee drinkers.

The basis for the research was a theory about short term increase in blood pressure and sympathetic activity in the nervous system leading to a heart attack due to its impact on atherosclerotic plaque. Coffee has long been known to increase sympathetic nerve activity and raise blood pressure through its active ingredient caffeine.

According to the study findings, people who drink coffee rarely, lead inactive lifestyles and have existing coronary heart disease risk are at the highest risk of suffering a heart attack within just one hour of drinking only a single cup of coffee.

The risk of heart attack for moderate coffee drinkers – those who typically drink two or three cups a day – goes up by 60%. This risk increases four fold for light coffee drinkers – those who drink one cup or less than that a day.

Patients with multiple existing risk factors for coronary heart disease like high blood pressure, high cholesterol, obesity, diabetes as well as smoking are at more than double the risk for a heart attack. However the study could find no measurable effect on heavy coffee consumers.

This led researchers to the assumption bodies of infrequent coffee drinkers are not fully able to adjust to the effects of caffeine. It also led researchers to advise people with coronary heart disease risk to totally avoid drinking coffee instead of enjoying it even on rare occasions.

“However, reducing coffee consumption should take a back seat to other health precautions,” said Dr. Andy Wielgosz, of the Heart and Stroke Foundation. “If you have a heart condition, if you have multiple risk factors, the first priority is to attend to those. Reduce those risk factors, control you cholesterol, your blood pressure and discuss the matter with your physician,” Dr. Wielgosz said.

“The other thing to remember is the risk of a heart attack occurring within an hour of the consumption of coffee is very low to begin with,” he added. Coffee and caffeine consumption and their impact on the human heart have been studied many times, but this study is the first to measure immediate effects instead of long term ones. Baylin’s study took only the first hour after the consumption of coffee into account.

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