Friday, August 21st 2026
Coffee and its effects have been scientifically researched for more than 150 years. Opinions about this favorite drink have changed several times: once coffee was considered an unhealthy vice, another time it was good for health. Now, the American Heart Association (AHA) has reassessed the situation – especially when it comes to heart health.
Coffee and risk to the heart and blood vessels
According to the association’s analysis, for most healthy adults, moderate coffee consumption of up to 400 milligrams of caffeine is not only harmless, but even reduces the risk of heart and blood vessel disease. blood.
According to the AHA’s calculation, this corresponds to three to five cups of black filtered coffee of approximately 240 milliliters. But the number of cups is only an approximation: the European Food Safety Agency (EFSA) calculates approximately 90 milligrams of caffeine per 200 milliliters of filter coffee and approximately 80 milligrams per 60 milliliters of espresso coffee.
An analysis of a health database from 2023 from Great Britain with almost 450,000 people reached similar results. Even EFSA considers up to 400 milligrams of caffeine per day to be a safe amount for healthy adults.
For pregnant women, EFSA advises a lower limit of 200 milligrams per day. For people with pre-existing conditions, the following applies: diseases, medications and individual reactions to caffeine may require medical evaluation.
The body can adapt to coffee consumption
Caffeine can increase heart rate and blood pressure in the short term and cause faster heartbeats or restlessness in people who consume a lot of it. But long-term research shows a different picture, says Omar Hahad of the Cardiology Center of University Medicine in Mainz, Germany.
He explains that the body can adapt to regular consumption, so even those short-term effects become milder. On average, coffee probably also benefits the heart and blood vessels, he concludes.
Here’s the kicker: a lot of the long-term data comes from observational studies. They can always only show correlation, but never cause and effect.
That’s why Gregory Marcus, head of the AHA report’s group of authors, warns that coffee should not be understood as a recipe for a long, healthy heart life: there is no single recommendation for everyone, he explains.
“The way coffee is processed is very different from person to person. This is why you should listen to your body: if you tolerate one cup well, you shouldn’t force yourself to drink three.”
According to current US guidelines, atrial fibrillation is not a reason to avoid coffee in general, as usual amounts of caffeine do not increase the risk moderately. But there is evidence that coffee can increase heart rate. That’s why anyone who notices heart rhythm disturbances after coffee should reduce its consumption and talk to a doctor about it.
Even the timing of consumption can play a role in health: A study published in 2025 that included more than 40,000 American adults found an association with lower overall and cardiovascular disease mortality, especially among people who drank coffee in morning.
But it’s not just the caffeine in coffee that makes the morning drink so interesting for research. “Coffee is actually a very complex drink,” says Hahad. Coffee contains hundreds of substances, including secondary plant substances, aromas, roasting substances and coffee oils. Caffeine is probably not solely responsible for the observed health benefits, according to Hahad.
“In many studies it has been observed that people who drink coffee regularly have a small risk of developing type 2 diabetes – compared to people who drink coffee very rarely or not at all,” says Matthias Schulze of the German Nutrition Research Institute Potsdam-Rehbrücke.
This link was also observed with decaffeinated coffee – compared to people who did not drink coffee, the risk of diabetes with six cups a day was statistically about 33 percent lower.
“That means it’s probably not the caffeine at work here, but other components that are at least as important,” says Schulze. Chlorogenic acids and other plant substances are being investigated as a possible explanation for this effect.
Recently, reports of pesticides in coffee have caused uncertainty. Jens Schubert from the German Federal Institute for Risk Assessment (BfR) explains: “The mere detection of certain plant protection agents in the coffee bean is not the same as ‘it is dangerous’ or ‘it is toxic to the consumer’. In the assessments, the risk that a substance may present is observed depending on the amount ingested by the consumer.”
Based on available data, there is no known risk to consumers from coffee, says Schubert.
About two to three percent of the raw coffee samples tested exceeded the value limits, Schubert reported. But even this does not automatically mean that the products are harmful to health. Despite this, as a rule, these goods are withdrawn from circulation.
According to current research, for the majority of healthy adults, there is nothing against the moderate consumption of coffee with up to 400 milligrams of caffeine per day.
But from this it cannot be concluded that one should start drinking coffee “preventively” in order to stay healthy for longer. Hahad puts it this way: “For most people, coffee is probably primarily a means of pleasure, not a drug or a dietary supplement.”
Therefore, coffee can fit well into a healthy lifestyle, but it does not replace sleep, a balanced diet and physical activity.
Source: prizrenpost
