Go ahead and pour yourself that extra cup of coffee, but hold the cream and sugar.
According to a new statement published in Circulation, the American Heart Association’s medical journal, your coffee habit may actually be good for your cardiovascular health.
Volunteers for the American Heart Association looked at research from recent decades and found that having up to 400 milligrams of caffeine each day, or up to roughly five 8-ounce cups of coffee, is safe for most adults and may offer heart health benefits.
Consuming up to 400 milligrams of black coffee each day is considered safe, according to researchers, and is tied to lower rates of heart disease, heart failure, stroke, and irregular heartbeat, and a lower risk of Type 2 diabetes.
While this research shows that drinking black coffee may offer cardiovascular benefits for many adults, more research is needed to see how different forms of caffeine (such as tea) impact heart health, according to study authors.
One caveat? This is true for black coffee only — not for sugar-sweetened lattes and coffee mixed with half-and-half.
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Black coffee may offer health benefits, but that isn’t true for java with added sugar and creamers.
If you tend to drink black coffee, this is all good news for you. But this research isn’t true for all coffee consumption.
Coffee has health benefits when it’s not mixed with added sweeteners or cream, which “likely reduces its potential health benefits,” the American Heart Association said in a press release about the new research.
As a rule, the American Heart Association recommends that adults limit their whole milk consumption, which is high in saturated fat. Whole milk, along with half-and-half (which contains whole milk), are common ingredients that adults pour into their coffee.
Coffee preparation makes a difference in terms of health benefits.
Cafestol, which is found in French press coffee, Turkish coffee, espresso and boiled coffee, is linked to higher levels of LDL cholesterol, or the “bad type” of cholesterol, which is known to increase the risk of heart attack and stroke.
This is not a concern with instant coffee and coffee brewed with paper filters, as they do not contain cafestol.
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Up to five cups of black coffee each day may offer health benefits such as a lower risk of heart disease and stroke. Westend61 via Getty Images
These health benefits do not apply to the caffeine in energy drinks.
Many people turn to energy drinks for their daily caffeine needs, but researchers warned that caffeine intake in this form does not have health benefits and may instead be harmful.
Energy drinks (and energy shots) generally contain higher amounts of caffeine than a cup of coffee or a shot of espresso. This “may increase the risk of high blood pressure and/or irregular heart rhythm or arrhythmia,” the American Heart Association said in its press release.
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For reference, an espresso shot has roughly 63 milligrams of caffeine, while some of the most popular energy drinks have between 160 and 200 milligrams of caffeine per can. That’s a big difference, especially when you consider that some people have multiple energy drinks in one day.
Energy drinks also often contain added sugar and flavors, which can be bad for heart health (and overall health), too.
Five cups of black coffee each day is not the sweet spot for everyone.
Five cups of black coffee may be the best recipe for your personal health and energy levels each day, but that may not be true for your partner or neighbor.
For instance, researchers found that in some studies, having one to three cups of coffee a day was associated with a greater risk of high blood pressure in healthy people, but the greater risk was not present after three cups a day.
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“Although research suggests that caffeine consumption may be associated with certain cardiovascular benefits for some people, it’s important to remember that there is no ‘one-size-fits-all’ strategy for safe caffeine consumption,” Dr. Gregory M. Marcus, the chair of the scientific statement volunteer writing group and a professor of medicine at the University of California, San Francisco School of Medicine, said in the press release.
Marcus said that factors such as age, health conditions, genetics and medications can impact how someone metabolizes caffeine.
“What may be a reasonable amount for one person could cause unwanted effects, such as heart palpitations, anxiety or sleep disruption, in another,” Marcus added in the press release.
You likely know how much caffeine is right for you each day, and if you’re tempted to have that extra cup of black coffee, it’s likely safe to do so.
