Atrial fibrillation is the most common type of heart arrhythmia.
More than 5% of the population older than 65 has AFib, and experts say 12.1 million people in the U.S. will have AFib in 2030.
While treatments like beta blockers and blood thinners are ways to deal with it, there might be an additional treatment that doesn’t involve a doctor.
And you can do it right at home with a drink you take in the morning.
A study by the American Heart Association found that drinking coffee may prevent cognitive decline in people with AFib.
“It is proven they may feel stronger heartbeat just because of dopamine, and epinephrine’s higher, but they do not trigger more A-Fib,” said Dr. Puxiao Cen, a cardiologist at AdventHealth. “The benefits are tremendous.”
The magic number? More than four cups of coffee per day.
“The more caffeine up to five or six per day is associated with a stronger cognitive preservation in people with AFib,” said Cen.
People who drank five cups daily had inflammation markers over 20% lower than those who consumed less than one cup daily.
Three to five, 8-ounce cups of coffee per day can be part of a healthy diet. But there are also some downsides.
“You are a slow metabolizer, one or two cups already keep you up till early evening, late night, then you shouldn’t try to get to the five or six cups,” Cen said.
And coffee drinks like lattes and macchiatos can be very high in calories and sugar, which may reduce health benefits.
In the study, scores for processing speed, visuomotor coordination and attention improved by as much as 11% among coffee consumers compared to non-consumers.
Currently, there is no research on whether decaf coffee has the same benefits.