Study: One Cup of Coffee Helps Regulate Heartbeats

SadaNews - A new study has found that drinking just one cup of coffee daily may be enough to help protect against atrial fibrillation.

Atrial fibrillation causes the heart to beat more than 400 times per minute, and is the most common type of arrhythmia, which can lead to sudden cardiac death, heart failure, and strokes.

The study was conducted by researchers from the University of California, San Francisco in the United States, and its results were presented at the scientific sessions of 2025 held by the American Heart Association from November 7 to 10 in New Orleans, Louisiana, as reported by the British newspaper The Independent.

Doctors usually recommend people with heart problems to avoid caffeine to prevent increased heart rate and blood pressure, but the new study found that daily coffee consumption actually reduces the risk of atrial fibrillation episodes by 39%.

Protective Properties

Dr. Gregory Marcus, a cardiac electrophysiologist at the University of California, San Francisco, stated, "Caffeine is a diuretic, which may lower blood pressure and thus reduce the risk of atrial fibrillation. Additionally, many other components in coffee have anti-inflammatory properties that may have positive effects."

Marcus and his colleagues studied the health of 200 adults who drink coffee and suffer from atrial fibrillation or a related heart condition known as atrial flutter, over a period of six months in the United States, Canada, and Australia.

Participants underwent electrical cardioversion - an electric shock that restores the heart to its normal rhythm - after which half of the participants were asked to drink at least one cup of coffee daily, while the other half were asked to completely stop consuming caffeine.

The authors noted that these results may be partly attributed to the fact that coffee drinkers tend to consume less unhealthy beverages.

They added that some individuals may find caffeine and coffee to exacerbate their symptoms.

Source: The Independent