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posted by Fnord666 on Monday May 13 2019, @07:01PM   Printer-friendly
from the coffee++ dept.

A Cup of Joe and You're Good to Go (Under 6 a Day and You're A-OK):

While the pros and cons of drinking coffee have been debated for decades, new research from the University of South Australia reveals that drinking six or more coffees a day can be detrimental to your health, increasing your risk of heart disease by up to 22 per cent.

In Australia, one in six people are affected by cardiovascular disease. It is a major cause of death with one person dying from the disease every 12 minutes. According to the World Health Organization, cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of death, yet one of the most preventable.

Investigating the association of long-term coffee consumption and cardiovascular disease, UniSA researchers Dr Ang Zhou and Professor Elina Hyppönen of the Australian Centre for Precision Health say their research confirms the point at which excess caffeine can cause high blood pressure, a precursor to heart disease.

[...] "In order to maintain a healthy heart and a healthy blood pressure, people must limit their coffees to fewer than six cups a day – based on our data six was the tipping point where caffeine started to negatively affect cardiovascular risk."

Using UK Biobank data of 347,077 participants aged 37-73 years, the study explored the ability of the caffeine-metabolizing gene (CYP1A2) to better process caffeine, identifying increased risks of cardiovascular disease in line with coffee consumption and genetic variations.

Prof Hyppönen says that despite carriers of the fast-processing gene variation being four times quicker at metabolising caffeine, the research does not support the belief that these people could safely consume more caffeine, more frequently, without detrimental health effects.

Journal Reference:
Ang Zhou, Elina Hyppönen. Long-term coffee consumption, caffeine metabolism genetics, and risk of cardiovascular disease: a prospective analysis of up to 347,077 individuals and 8368 cases. The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 2019; 109 (3): 509 DOI: 10.1093/ajcn/nqy297


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  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday May 13 2019, @09:36PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Monday May 13 2019, @09:36PM (#843174)

    I'm not sure I agree with your initial premise ("if you're not a fat bastard 7 cups won't be bad for you"), but I definitely agree with your observation ("Europeans drink a ton of coffee at all hours and are mostly healthier than "), and your conclusion ("I'll drink as much as I like and probably be fine.").

    I don't think this has anything to do with too much caffein being bad for you, I think it's pretty clear it is (and I almost certainly fall into the category of people who drink way too much coffee, by their definition).

    I think it has to do with the European lifestyle on so many levels I hardly know where to start.

    1) The less-frantic, more stop-and-smell-the-flowers pace of life
    2) Vastly lower stress levels, attributable to many things
    3) National Health Services (of one sort or another: better access to medical services, far less stress when you're ill and don't have to worry about crippling medical bills, fighting with insurance companies, etc.)
    4) Social safety net (lose your job and you don't become homeless, even if the downturn lasts longer than a couple of fiscal quarters)
    5) More active lifestyle (trains, trams, buses, walking, biking vs. the ubiquitous automobile)

    In some countries diet might be a benefit, in others a drawback, so I deliberately left that out, except to say that a society that enjoys its meals, enjoys it wines and beers, etc. is probably even more relaxed, and thereby even healthier.

    It could well be Europeans who consume a ton of caffein live longer despite the habit, because of any of the factors above, or a ton of others I haven't thought of, none of which have anything to do with whether or not drinking a fuckton of caffein is a good idea or not.