Coffee may protect against irregular heartbeats
Source: NBC News
HEART HEALTH
Coffee may protect against irregular heartbeats
Its long been unknown what effect, if any, caffeine has on atrial fibrillation, or A-fib.

Doctors often tell patients with A-fib to stop drinking caffeinated coffee.Boy_Anupong / Getty Images
Nov. 9, 2025, 9:45 AM EST
By Kaitlin Sullivan
Drinking caffeinated coffee is safe for people with atrial fibrillation and may help protect against recurrence of the disorder, a new study finds.
More than 10 million Americans live with atrial fibrillation, or A-fib, a common heart disorder that causes heart palpitations and can lead to heart failure, blood clots and stroke. Doctors have long tried to understand whether caffeine which can increase heart rate and blood pressure appears to trigger episodes that feel like a fluttering or thumping in the chest and cause dizziness or breathlessness.
There is no standard advice for atrial fibrillation and caffeine, said Dr. Gregory Marcus, a cardiologist and professor of medicine at the University of California, San Francisco, who led the DECAF (Does Eliminating Coffee Avoid Fibrillation?) study. It is very common for me to encounter patients who have stopped drinking caffeinated coffee only because their physician has told them to do so because of their atrial fibrillation.
The results of the DECAF study, a four-year clinical trial examining the effects of drinking coffee in people with a history of irregular heart rhythm that had either resolved or been treated, were presented Sunday at the annual American Heart Association conference in New Orleans and published in JAMA. Marcus is an associate editor of JAMA.
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Read more: https://www.nbcnews.com/news/amp/rcna242576
Lovie777
(21,134 posts)wolfie001
(6,524 posts)The best part of waking up (without the fascist Folger's company part of course).
rsdsharp
(11,543 posts)Jacson6
(1,646 posts)I don't believe 90% of these so-called studies.
Just joking.
rustbeltvoice
(475 posts)Some Mormons maintain that a coffee drinker can not get to heaven. I have spent more than an half hour to find the book that quotes St. Paul. I thought, it was the Brothers Karamazov. It was something similar to, Everything is permitted to you, but not everything is good for you. There is something like that in I Corinthians vi.12. All things are lawful to me, but all things are not expedient. All things are lawful to me, but I will not be brought under the power of any. So, i have the ability to drink coffee; why would it be bad for me? The prohibition is to control behaviour, the authority is both nebulous and capricious. As for me and my tribe, we will drink coffee.
And again, hot drinks are not for the body or the belly. Joseph Smith, Word of Wisdom 89.9.
https://rustbeltvoice.blogspot.com/2023/07/coffee-eles-tem-muito-cafe-no-brasil.html
ananda
(33,991 posts)who sponsored the study and whether there
are any ulterior motives or not.
wolfie001
(6,524 posts)Always trying to pin it down as unhealthy yet it always comes shining through. I drink about 3-8oz cups per day and I'm never going to give it up. I don't care what my docs say to me about it.
elleng
(141,547 posts)hermetic
(9,066 posts)Been drinking it for over 50 years but still had to get a pacemaker a couple of months ago. Now my beat goes on but so does my morning brew.
CTyankee
(67,577 posts)LudwigPastorius
(13,810 posts)For me, one cup of caffeinated joe and it feels like Elvin Jones is playing a drum solo on my solar plexus.
lostincalifornia
(4,832 posts)BWdem4life
(2,858 posts)The only time I ever had my heart paddled back into rhythm was after drinking some alcoholic drinks with Red Bull in them. Pretty sure caffeine is not really good for the heart.
Skittles
(168,652 posts)it's the excess of caffeine
joanbarnes
(2,062 posts)Skittles
(168,652 posts)just curious but when that happens does it FEEL like your heart is skipping a beat?
Turbineguy
(39,636 posts)it feels like the heart stops and just before you start to worry, you get a strong beat and then it goes back to normal. I've had it where the heart beats twice, skips, beats twice skips. etc. The Doctors tell me not to worry. I take Magnesium Glycinate 360mg per day, that seems to keep things pretty normal. Still, its disconcerting, but I figure 5 GP's and 2 Cardiologists can't be wrong. The Cardiologists tell me to limit my coffee and tea intake, but not to stop it. I have cut way down on the alcohol as well. Like one drink per month.
Skittles
(168,652 posts)every once in a while it feels like my heart is skipping a beat but from what I understand it is actually an extra beat
I would never be able to give up coffee but alcohol, I imbibe only on special occasions
3catwoman3
(28,144 posts)I detest both the taste and the smell of coffee.
When I was a kid, for whatever reason, my father made dunk an oatmeal cookie in coffee and take a bite. He liked that, so I guess he was sure I would, too. I didnt, and suspect that may be the reason I do not care for coffee anything.
doc03
(38,642 posts)side will kill you. Now coffee is good. Didn't RFK say to eat saturated fat now.
Skittles
(168,652 posts)but - certain things, I have to have.....I gave up cigs, I gave up most meat - but I have to have my coffee, it's one of the simple pleasures in my life; yes INDEED
SidneyR
(197 posts)It's about caffeine, not just coffee. What about us tea drinkers?
piddyprints
(15,044 posts)But it was because of fatigue. Im so sensitive to caffeine that a cup of decaf after noon has enough caffeine to keep me up all night.
All the heavy coffee drinkers in my family had serious heart diseases, but I wouldnt say coffee was the culprit. They all had other risk factors. Two of them had A-fib that required cardioversion, clearly not helped by the coffee.
Yeah, I miss it, so I have a cup of decaf with Half & Half early in the day maybe once a month just for the taste.
Bayard
(27,794 posts)I had a little bit of an irregular beat, causing some dizziness and racing heart. Cardiologist put me on a teensy dose of Metoprolol, and that seems to do the trick.
I drink a couple big mugs of regular coffee a day. Its in the daily required food/beverage groups. Even in the evening, and it doesn't keep me awake. I always sleep like the dead anyway.
lostincalifornia
(4,832 posts)people who are prone to atrial fibrillation think that is a good thing, then have fun.
lostincalifornia
(4,832 posts)lostincalifornia
(4,832 posts)progressoid
(52,322 posts)FoxNewsSucks
(11,454 posts)Now let's see the study that finds bacon and eggs are also good for us.
Coffee.....bacon.....hash browns......eggs
