Drinking at least one cup of coffee a day could help reduce the risk of heart failure, researchers said Tuesday.
The report, which was published Tuesday in the journal Circulation: Heart Failure, determined that there was a benefit to Java consumption in examining data from three major studies.
Compared to people who did not drink coffee, java lovers were found to have a reduced risk of heart failure of between 5 and 12% for every cup they drank daily, according to research from Framingham Heart and the Cardiovascular Health. .
This was the case for up to three cups of coffee, according to the study.
A second study on the risk of atherosclerosis in communities determined that the risk of heart failure remained the same if you did not drink coffee or a cup a day.
But the same study found that two cups of coffee was associated with a 30% reduced risk of heart failure.
Meanwhile, decaffeinated coffee did not have the same benefits as normal java and one study suggested it could be related to an increased risk of heart problems.
Dr. David Kao, an assistant professor of cardiology at the University of Colorado School of Medicine, said he suggests that caffeine may be the key factor related to heart health.
“The association between caffeine and the reduction in heart failure risk was striking,” Kao said in a statement.
“The general population believes that coffee and caffeine are often bad for the heart because people associate them with palpitations, high blood pressure, and so on.”