Bad news for coffee drinkers:
Are we to assume this is true of all caffeinated drinks (amount varying depending on concentration of caffeine)? I personally have been staying away from caffeine for more than 25 years now after being nearly addicted to the stuff in early college. I quit because I felt it was messing with me. Perhaps I have the bad caffeine gene.A study of 4,000 coffee drinkers has found that two or more cups each day can increase the risk of heart disease — but only for those with a genetic mutation that slows the breakdown of caffeine in the body.
In diverse urban areas, the mutation is found in 54% of the population.
People without the mutation can drink as much coffee as they like with no added risk of a heart attack, the scientists said.
Unfortunately, there's no commercial test for the mutation, which now puts coffee die-hards in a bit of a quandary.[snip]
People who metabolized caffeine slowly and drank two to three cups of coffee each day had a 32% higher risk of heart attack, according to the study. Those consuming four cups or more had a 64% greater risk.
A single cup of coffee had no effect on heart attack risk, researchers found.
In any case, this I believe is rather big news. Unless a way is found to test for this gene, I think we are going to see a lot of people switching to decaf. For those not inclined to quit, the good news is you can almost certainly expect a coffee industry funded study to come out shortly refuting these findings.
1 comment:
Hubban*I drink about 3 or 4 pots a day. I know other people who drink it by the pots also. I think we are immune to the effects of caffine. I may have to look up those resent articles that are "pro" coffee.(LOL)
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