Drinking at least one cup of coffee a day can help reduce the risk of heart failure, researchers said Tuesday.
The report, published Tuesday in the journal Circulation: Heart Failure, found there was a benefit to Java consumption by looking at data from three large studies.
Compared to people who did not drink coffee, Java enthusiasts were found to have a reduced risk of heart failure between 5 and 12% for every cup they drank daily, according to research from Framingham Heart and the Cardiovascular Health.
That was the case for up to three cups of coffee, the study said.
A second study by Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities found that the risk of heart failure remained the same if you didn’t drink coffee or one cup a day.
But the same study found that two cups of coffee was associated with a 30% reduced risk of heart failure.
Meanwhile, decaf coffee didn’t have the same benefits as regular java – and one study suggested it may be linked to a higher risk of heart problems.
Dr. David Kao, an assistant professor of cardiology at the University of Colorado School of Medicine, said this suggests that caffeine may be the key factor associated with heart health.
“The link between caffeine and reducing the risk of heart failure was surprising,” Kao said in a statement.
“Coffee and caffeine are often considered bad for the heart by the general population because people associate them with palpitations, high blood pressure, etc.”