According the American Heart Association, coffee can cause the heart’s lower chambers, the ventricles, to skip beats. Researchers recruited 100 coffee drinkers and fitted them with devices to continuously record their health. Over two weeks, participants were randomly assigned to either drink as much coffee as they liked or to forgo it.
The researchers then tracked the changes within each person and between people that occurred when they were either exposed to coffee or went without.
The study found no evidence that coffee consumption created any irregular rhythms within the atria, the upper chambers of the heart. But they did find that coffee consumption could cause the ventricles — the lower chambers of the heart — to skip beats.
“On days randomly assigned to coffee, people exhibited about 50 percent more premature ventricular contractions [PVCs] — more early beats arising from the lower chambers of the heart,” said lead author Dr. Gregory Marcus, associate chief of cardiology for research at the University of California, San Francisco.
These PVCs are common and are usually regarded as harmless, he added. But if you’re concerned about the effects of coffee on your health, you should probably talk with your doctor, Marcus said.
Depending on your personal health issues, it might make sense for you to either drink coffee or abstain from it.
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