Good news for java enthusiasts: Earlier this month the American Heart Association released a statement endorsing up to five cups of caffeinated coffee a day as safe for the average adult. In fact, the statement adds, drinking more coffee may be good for you.
“I don’t think we are there yet in terms of recommending people who don’t drink coffee initiate coffee-drinking as a preventive strategy,” said Frank Hu, the Fredrick J. Stare Professor of Nutrition and Epidemiology at Harvard’s T.H. Chan School of Public Health. Hu is a co-author of the statement.
“For people who are already drinking coffee, I think the data is very reassuring that two to five cups per day is not just safe, it may be healthful in terms of lower risk of certain chronic diseases.”
Using large cohort data from studies like the Nurses’ Health Study and Health Professionals Follow-Up Study, AHA researchers looked at behavior over decades and found no long-term negative impacts on blood pressure and heart rhythms associated with the overconsumption of caffeine in the participants who limited their coffee intake to the two-to-five-cup range.
Frank Hu. Harvard file photo.
