Smiling Cup Of Coffee - © unknown

Morning Coffee Sets You Up for A Heart-Healthier Day!

There has been renewed debate lately about whether coffee is good for you. The consensus is cur-rently on the side of coffee supporters. Now, there’s even more new science claiming that morning cuppa Joe (or two) is a heart health booster!

Old Folks Drinking Coffee - © starkssn.com

How many times have you heard someone say they need that first cup of coffee in the morning to ‘get themselves started’? As innocuous as that statement seem, it’s been the subject of serious debate for at least a century…

A new study

Yes, another one, and another (like the one yesterday about the chicken and the egg), which sought to lay to rest an eternal debate. Now, there’s hard evidence that coffee – and when you drink it – can have a positive effect on your heart health.

What they did

Researchers at Tulane University (New Orleans), “wanted to see if the time of day when you drink coffee has any impact on heart health.”

So, they accessed data on 40,725 adults taking part in the US National Health and Nutrition Examin-ation Survey (NHANES) between 1999 and 2018. As part of this study, participants were asked about all the food and drink they consumed on at least one day, including whether they drank coffee, how much and when. The analysis also included 1,463 people who were asked to complete a detailed food and drink diary for a full week.

Around 36 percent of study subjects were morning coffee drinkers (they primarily drank coffee before midday). Some 16 percent drank coffee throughout the day (morning, afternoon and evening). And 48 percent were not coffee drinkers.

What they found

Morning coffee drinkers benefited from lower heart health risks, whether they were moderate drink-ers (two to three cups) or heavy drinkers (more than three cups). Even light morning coffee drinkers (one cup or less) benefited from a smaller but still significant decrease in risk.

Compared with people who did not drink coffee, morning coffee drinkers were 16 percent less likely to die of any cause, and 31 percent less likely to die of cardiovascular disease. However, there was no reduction in risk for all-day coffee drinkers compared to non-coffee drinkers.

“This study doesn’t tell us why drinking coffee in the morning reduces the risk of death from cardio-vascular disease,” notes team leader Dr. Lu Qi. “A possible explanation is that consuming coffee in the afternoon or evening may disrupt circadian rhythms and levels of hormones such as melatonin. This, in turn, leads to changes in cardiovascular risk factors such as inflammation and blood pressure.

The takeaway

“Our findings indicate that it’s not just whether you drink coffee or how much you drink, but the time of day when you drink coffee that’s important,” Qi underlines. “We don’t typically give advice about timing in our dietary guidance… But perhaps we should be thinking about this in the future.”

Qi also recommends further research in  he future to determine why time of day has such a profound impact on the effects of coffee consumption.

My take

I think many of us – especially folks who have considerable (i.e.- many decades) of experience with coffee consumption – already suspected that there really was a legitimate connection between morning coffee drinking and our cardio health. It’s good to have one’s instincts confirmed by cold, hard facts.

My experience also tells me that Dr. Qi’s explanation about coffee later in the day disrupting our circadian rhythms is on the right track. I’ll be curious to see what his next round of research uncovers…

~ Maggie J.