Drinking caffeinated coffee is good and bad for your health in the short term

According to the latest research published today at the American Heart Association's 2021 scientific meeting, drinking caffeinated coffee seems to have short-term beneficial and harmful effects on health: abnormal heartbeat, increased physical activity, and reduced sleep time

"Coffee is the most commonly consumed beverage in the world, but its health effects are still uncertain," the study author, associate director of cardiology research at the University of California, San Francisco, and special professor of atrial fibrillation research, Gray Said Gregory Marcus

Marcus and his colleagues recruited 100 adult volunteers who were assigned to wear devices that continuously record electrocardiograms (to track heart rhythm), devices that are worn on the wrists to track physical activity and sleep; and to track blood glucose for two consecutive weeks Level of blood glucose monitor

Then, the participants were randomly assigned to not drink coffee for 14 consecutive days or not drink coffee for more than two days

Analysis found that drinking coffee was associated with an increase in premature ventricular contractions by 54%

Drinking coffee leads to more physical activity and less sleep

• Compared with days without coffee, participants who drank coffee took more than 1,000 steps a day

  
  

• According to their Fitbit device, they lost 36 minutes of sleep per night during the coffee-drinking days

  
  

• Drinking more than one cup of coffee will more than double the irregular heartbeats in the lower cavity

  
  

• For every extra cup of coffee, I would walk 600 more steps a day and lose 18 minutes of sleep every night

  
  

• When study participants drank coffee and did not drink coffee, there was no difference in glucose levels recorded continuously

  
  

These findings were confirmed by an analysis of their compliance with random assignments, and were amplified when the amount of coffee drunk was larger than the amount of coffee drunk

Marcus said: “More physical exercise seems to be caused by drinking coffee.

Participants in the study of gene variants associated with faster caffeine metabolism showed more abnormal heartbeats originating from the ventricles or ventricular premature when they consumed more caffeinated coffee

Researchers are also trying to determine whether changes in exercise or sleep affect the effect of coffee on arrhythmia, but no such connection has yet been found

Marcus pointed out that because coffee is randomly assigned to study participants, causality can be inferred

Co-authors are David G.
Rosenthal, MD; Gregory No, MD; Eric Vittinghoff, Ph.
D; Christina Fang; Kelsey Ogomori; Sean Joyce; Defne Yilmaz; Vivian Yang; Tara Kessedjian; Dolkun Rahmutula Ph.
D.
; Emily Wilson; Michelle Young; Kathleen Zhang; Grace Wall; and Jeff Olgin, MD, the authors’ disclosures are listed in the abstract
.

This research was funded by the Cardiology Innovation Award of the University of California, San Francisco, the Nafie Atrial Fibrillation Research Center, and the Cardiology Department of the University of California, San Francisco
.