{"id":562898,"date":"2026-07-22T17:39:09","date_gmt":"2026-07-22T17:39:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/562898\/"},"modified":"2026-07-22T17:39:09","modified_gmt":"2026-07-22T17:39:09","slug":"coffee-aha-highlights-benefits-safety-limits-for-heart-health","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/562898\/","title":{"rendered":"Coffee: AHA Highlights Benefits, Safety Limits for Heart Health"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"CupShare on Pinterest<\/a>The American Heart Association (AHA) states that up to 5 cups of black coffee a day is safe for most people. Image Credit: Filmstax\/GettyThe American Heart Association (AHA) published a statement confirming how much caffeinated coffee is safe to drink each day. Adding flavorings like sugar, cream, and syrups to coffee can cancel out coffee\u2019s heart-health benefits, however. The statement noted that the higher levels of caffeine in energy drinks can be harmful to heart health.<\/p>\n

A growing body of evidence suggests that drinking coffee may have health benefits. But when it comes to heart health, how much coffee is safe to drink?<\/p>\n

On July 20, the American Heart Association (AHA)<\/a> published a scientific statement outlining how much caffeinated black coffee is safe to drink each day. The authors say that for most people, up to 5 cups of coffee per day is beneficial.<\/p>\n

Added flavorings like sugar, cream, and flavored syrups, however, could cancel out the heart health benefits that black coffee provides. <\/p>\n

The statement also notes that higher caffeine levels in energy drinks<\/a> can be harmful to heart health.<\/p>\n

\u201cWith each year, patients are becoming savvy with their health and nutrition and asking very important questions,\u201d said Matthew Saybolt<\/a>, MD, medical director of the Structural Heart Disease Program at Hackensack Meridian Jersey Shore University Medical Center in New Jersey, who wasn\u2019t involved in the scientific statement.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am regularly asked about coffee intake as it pertains to cardiovascular diseases like hypertension<\/a>, atrial fibrillation<\/a>, and coronary artery disease<\/a>,\u201d Saybolt told Healthline. \u201cPhysicians now have a scientific statement and the support of the AHA to give patients evidence-based guidance on the topic. And as a habitual coffee drinker myself, I am thrilled with the results.\u201d <\/p>\n

This scientific statement was broadly intended to summarize the latest and best evidence regarding caffeine and various forms of cardiovascular disease, said Gregory M. Marcus<\/a>, MD, professor of medicine at the University of California, San Francisco School of Medicine, and chair of the AHA\u2019s scientific statement volunteer writing group.<\/p>\n

After reviewing the latest research, the statement group determined that consuming up to 400 mg of caffeinated coffee<\/a> per day (about 5 cups) is safe for most adults. <\/p>\n

\u201cFor those that currently enjoy consuming caffeinated coffee or tea, they should be reassured that doing so is very likely not increasing their cardiovascular risk and may even have some benefits,\u201d Marcus told Healthline. <\/p>\n

How much coffee is in a cup? <\/p>\n

Cheng-Han Chen<\/a>, MD, a board certified interventional cardiologist and medical director of the Structural Heart Program at MemorialCare Saddleback Medical Center in Laguna Hills, CA, explained that the statement defines a cup of coffee as an 8-ounce serving.<\/p>\n

\u201cMost people don\u2019t understand what an 8-ounce serving is,\u201d Chen, who was not involved in this study, explained to Healthline. <\/p>\n

\u201cFor instance, I\u2019m holding a cup of coffee in my hand right now, which is kind of the average Starbucks cup. This is 16 ounces, so really, this is two servings that I\u2019m holding. But people think this is just one cup of coffee.\u201d <\/p>\n

In the AHA\u2019s statement, researchers report that drinking caffeinated black coffee may be associated with a lower risk of heart diseases like coronary heart disease, stroke<\/a>, heart failure<\/a>, and a type of irregular heartbeat called atrial fibrillation.<\/p>\n

However, scientists point out that coffee add-ins, such as sugar, cream, milk, and flavored syrups, may cancel out coffee\u2019s potential health benefits. <\/p>\n

Saybolt said his dietary advice for coffee is the same as the dietary advice he gives all his patients \u2014 get off the sugar and cut down on dairy in parallel with a Mediterranean<\/a> or plant-based diet<\/a>. <\/p>\n

\u201cI drink three to four cups of black coffee a day,\u201d he explained. \u201cFor my coffee drinking patients, I would advise them to wean themselves off the dairy and sugar as well, to get the maximal health benefits of coffee.\u201d <\/p>\n

Chen recommended gradually backing off on coffee flavorings.<\/p>\n

\u201cPerhaps for the first week or two, one less pump of syrup, and then gradually reduce the amount of sugar, so that your taste buds have time to adjust,\u201d he detailed. \u201dBy the end of the process \u2026 I would predict that you might actually start enjoying the taste of coffee rather than the taste of creamer and sugar.\u201d<\/p>\n

The AHA\u2019s statement also says that higher levels of caffeine in energy drinks<\/a> and shots \u2014 sometimes as much as 4 times that of a cup of coffee \u2014 can increase a person\u2019s risk of heart conditions like high blood pressure and irregular heart rhythm. <\/p>\n

\u201cCoffee has many other chemicals, biologically active chemicals, besides caffeine<\/a>,\u201d Chen explained. \u201cAnd it\u2019s likely that some of these other chemicals are responsible for the health benefits of coffee. And so when we talk about caffeine, really, we\u2019re talking about coffee intake.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIf we talk about caffeine intake from other sources, such as energy drinks or caffeine pills, for instance, it could be that without the other beneficial chemicals in coffee, you do not get the same health benefits,\u201d he continued. <\/p>\n

\u201cThese energy drinks and caffeine pills frequently have extremely high levels of caffeine as well as other types of stimulants, which could actually be detrimental to heart health.\u201d <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Share on PinterestThe American Heart Association (AHA) states that up to 5 cups of black coffee a day…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":562899,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[103,61,60],"class_list":["post-562898","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-health","tag-health","tag-ie","tag-ireland"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/562898","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=562898"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/562898\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/562899"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=562898"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=562898"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=562898"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}