Coffee Killer

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Could a cup of coffee kill you? It sounds almost absurd, but that is the headline of a new study just released--that in some people, it actually can. You know, most of us don’t think about the science or medicine behind 3,7-dihydro-1,3,7-trimethyl-1h-purine-2,6,-dione. It’s what you and i know as caffeine--for many of us, the key to coffee. But we don’t want to be bothered with all that pesky science stuff; we just want to enjoy it. Noel, a coffee drinker, says, “I have to have my morning coffee.” But to spoil the coffee klotch just a bit, and be a touch pesky, a new study out of the reputable journal epidemiology and done by Harvard and Brown University researchers shows that a cup of coffee may cause a heart attack in some people within an hour of drinking it. And that could kill. Ironically, the risk was highest among people with light or occasional coffee intake with a more than quadruple the risk.

Not ironically, it was also highest among those with a sedentary lifestyle or other risk factors for coronary heart disease. Moderate coffee drinkers increased their risk of having a heart attack by 60% by having one cup of coffee. There was little effect among heavy coffee drinkers. It’s believed that just like a heavy alcohol drinker can tolerate more alcohol than an infrequent drinker, lighter coffee drinkers are less acclimated to the effects of caffeine.

Jennifer Mieres, a cardiologist at NYU Medical Center, says, “The data so far has been controversial, some studies have indicated yes there is a link, some studies have shown there is no link between ingesting coffee and heart attacks. I think it is something we should consider but they were not effective as teasing out coffee as really the main event.”

The researchers found that patients with three or more risk factors for coronary heart disease more than doubled their risk. the theory is that perhaps caffeine causes short term increases in blood pressure and adrenaline release, which could rupture a cholesterol plaque in an artery that’s partially clogged…and trigger a heart attack.

So bottom line, what’s a coffee drinker to do? Dr. Mieres believes, “I would say based on the American Heart Association recent statistics and there statement, coffee drinkers do not need to be concerned at this point in time. I think what is important here is that if you are not a regular coffee drinker and you have predisposition to having heart disease by having risk factors, so those for example are somebody with a sedentary lifestyle those who smoke, or maybe those who are diabetic and you are not accustomed to having coffee, it may be that coffee may be a trigger.”

In the past, the FDA, the AMA, and the American Heart Association have given coffee the blessing of good health. But this new research will likely force more research into the safety of coffee, especially among those at risk for cardiovascular disease.

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