Health Farm

-- Is there a coffee drinker alive today who hasn’t googled: ‘How many cups of coffee a day is bad for you?’ A definitive answer remains elusive. 

While caffeine is known to stimulate the central nervous system and act as a mild diuretic, the history of coffee is a series of medical flip-flops on how coffee may affect health, with some studies finding benefits and others flagging risks.

Six cups a day or less sounds sensible

A study presented at the British Cardiovascular Society conference in June gave coffee the all clear for cardio vascular health, suggesting that drinking five cups of coffee a day was no worse for the arteries than drinking less than a cup.

However, another study analysing health data on long-term coffee consumption and cardiovascular disease among 347,077 adults in the United Kingdom identified a moderate increase in cardiovascular disease risk for heavy coffee drinkers, measured as six cups a day.

Here’s what researchers found when they compared different groups with those who drank one or two cups a day: the odds of cardiovascular disease were 11% higher among adults who did not drink coffee, 7% higher among those who drank decaf, and a whopping 22% higher among those who drank more than six cups per day.

And yet other research presented at the American Heart Association’s Scientific Sessions in 2017 suggested that coffee may be tied to reduced risk of heart failure and stroke. Specifically: a 7% decreased risk of heart failure and an 8% decreased risk of stroke was associated with each extra cup of coffee consumed per week.

The final word?

Dr. Nieca Goldberg, a cardiologist and volunteer expert with the American Heart Association. “My thoughts about coffee and increasing heart disease risk are, I think the data we have so far is not enough to tell people to stop drinking coffee,” she said. “Coffee is probably safe as long as you’re not a heavy drinker.”