Coffee Reduces Cardiac Damage

Drinking at least one cup of coffee a day could boost survival after a heart attack. These are the findings of a study published in the journal ‘Coronary Artery’. According to the researchers, patients who drink one to two cups a day are 20 per cent less likely to die prematurely from heart damage than those who never touch coffee, while those downing more than two are nearly half as likely to die early.
The findings, by the British team at York University in Canada, support other recent research suggesting coffee – once considered a potential danger to the heart – may actually have a protective effect when drunk in moderation. Although, around 70 million cups of coffee are consumed every day in the United Kingdom (UK), not as much is consumed in Nigeria.
Many Nigerians are also not only known to drink coffee, some are addicted to it. Coffee is slightly acidic and can have a stimulating effect on humans because of its caffeine content. Coffee is one of the most popular drinks in the world, after water.
The popular beverage has been shown to protect against liver cancer, Alzheimer’s disease and even strokes. Last year, experts at the renowned Harvard School of Public Health in Boston in the United States (U.S), found three to five cups a day reduced the risk of dying from heart disease, as well as incurable conditions like Parkinson’s, according to reports.
Now a British team has found coffee may also help those who have already had a heart attack. The findings are potentially very significant because this group of patients is at high risk of another heart attack, or developing heart failure as a result of severe scarring in the cardiac muscle.
The team tracked 3,271 victims across the UK, including 604 who survived but later died as a result of their condition. The patients had all taken part in research which chronicled their coffeedrinking habits as part of a wider lifestyle study. ‘Light’ drinkers, who got through just one or two daily were also at much lower risk of an early death, with the dangers reduced by about a fifth.
Few studies have looked at how coffee might improve the health of this large group of patients. The York researchers said it’s still not entirely clear how coffee might boost the heart but noted there were a host of potentially beneficial ingredients in coffee beans, not just caffeine. These include healthboosting plant chemicals, called flavonoids, as well as compounds called melanoidins, which can reduce the build-up of fatty deposits.