How Healthy Is Your Coffee Habit?
By Michael Roizen, M.D., and Mehmet Oz, M.D. There's nothing like that first sip of coffee in the morning. Especially when you know that java can reduce your risk of diabetes, Parkinson's disease and Alzheimer's disease, as well as your risk of not paying attention to what your spouse is saying at the breakfast table.
Coffee is one of the major sources of healthy polyphenols in many people's diets, but you can't depend on it to do the whole job of keeping you healthy. Research recently found that people who get high amounts of healthy compounds from coffee (3 or more cups a day) rather than from fruit, wine and vegetables have a higher risk of atrial fibrillation.
That's a disorder that decreases the heart's ability to pump blood out of its upper chambers as effectively as in normal rhythm. In fact, it usually decreases the pumping by about 25 percent. It's trouble because there's a potential for the blood to form clots in the enlarged or dysfunctional atrium, which can cause strokes if the clots are eventually pushed out. And if you do get atrial fibrillation, cutting out the coffee often restores the rhythm to normal.
People who didn't develop this heart rhythm problem drank less caffeine in a day and were more likely to follow the Mediterranean diet -- meaning they ate more fruits, vegetables and healthy grains and less red meat and full-fat dairy than those who did. They didn't eat fewer calories; they just got them from healthier places than the atrial fibrillation group did. So don't depend on coffee to do everything. Treat your heart right by feeding it nature's best foods, too.
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The YOU Docs, Mehmet Oz and Mike Roizen, are authors of "YOU: The Owner's Manual." Want more? See "The Dr. Oz Show" on TV (check local listings). To submit questions, go to www.RealAge.com. (c) 2009 Michael Roizen, M.D. and Mehmet Oz, M.D. Distributed by King Features Syndicate, Inc.
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