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medpundit |
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Wednesday, March 08, 2006Drinking large amounts of coffee each day could increase the risk of heart attack for people with a particular genetic profile, a study has suggested. Four thousand people in Costa Rica were monitored in the Journal of the American Medical Association study. Those who were slow at breaking down caffeine were 64% more likely to suffer a cardiac arrest. That certainly sounds dire, I say as I drink my sixth cup of coffee in 24 hours not knowing whether I have the protective fast-metabolizing coffee gene or the dreaded slow-metabolizer. But a glance at the study is more reassuring than the news reports. The researchers compared Costa Ricans who had had heart attacks with the Costa Ricans who had not. They divided both groups into fast coffee metabolizers and slow coffee metabolizers based on genetic testing. Then they asked them about their coffee drinking habits. Twenty-three percent of Costa Ricans who had had a heart attack and were slow coffee metabolizers drank more than 4 cups of coffee a day. Only 14% of Costa Ricans who had no heart disease and were slow metabolizers drank that much. Does that mean that slow coffee metabolizers who drink more than four cups a day have a 64% increase in the risk of having a heart attack? Not really. For one thing, the people who had heart attacks had other health conditions and bad habits as well that their healthy counterparts did not share equally. They had higher rates of diabetes, for one thing - also 24% compared to 14%. They smoked more, too (40% vs. 21%) , but drank less. They took in more calories a day, and ate more sucrose. It's no wonder they had more heart attacks. These guys can rest easy for a while. posted by Sydney on 3/08/2006 10:57:00 PM 0 comments 0 Comments: |
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