Keep Morning Coffee In Your Life, May Lower Risk Of Heart Disease

The time of day you drink a cup of coffee may lower the risk of an early death, new research suggests. The study found that people who drank coffee in the morning had a lower risk of dying from cardiovascular disease and had a lower mortality risk than all-day coffee consumers – but the research could not prove whether coffee was the sole cause. Dr Lu Qi, lead researcher and director of Tulane University Obesity Research Center, said while the study does not show why drinking coffee in the morning reduces the risk, but one explanation could be that consumption later in the day may disrupt a person’s internal body clock. The study was published on Wednesday in the European Heart Journal.

Dr Qi said further studies are needed to see if their findings could also be observed in other populations, adding: “We need clinical trials to test the potential impact of changing the time of day when people drink coffee.” “This study doesn’t tell us why drinking coffee in the morning reduces the risk of death from cardiovascular disease,” he explained. “A possible explanation is that consuming coffee in the afternoon or evening may disrupt circadian rhythms [our bodies 24-hour cycle of physical, mental and behavioural changes] and levels of hormones such as melatonin. “This, in turn, leads to changes in cardiovascular risk factors such as inflammation and blood pressure.”

The researchers found that morning coffee drinkers were 16% less likely to have died compared to those who did not drink coffee, and 31% less likely to have died from heart disease. The researchers said higher coffee intake amounts were “significantly” associated with a lower risk of death, but only among people who drank coffee in the morning compared with those who drank coffee all day.

Source: BBC