Coffee and heart disease risk in people
What it found
Moderate coffee drinking was linked to lower rates of high blood pressure, diabetes, heart attacks, irregular heartbeat, heart failure and early death in people.
Unfiltered coffee may raise LDL cholesterol, and one trial found a short-term rise in extra heartbeats.
What they found
Studies in people
Heart disease and death
People who drank moderate amounts of coffee had lower rates of high blood pressure, type 2 diabetes, heart attacks, irregular heartbeat, heart failure and early death.
Unfiltered coffee and cholesterol
Drinking unfiltered coffee was linked to higher levels of LDL cholesterol, which is often called bad cholesterol.
Extra heartbeats in trials
In randomised controlled trials, drinking coffee caused a short-term rise in premature ventricular contractions, which are extra heartbeats.
Benefits beyond caffeine
Many of the helpful effects seen with coffee drinking did not appear to depend on caffeine itself.
Other findings
Individual differences
How coffee affects someone can change based on their genes and their drinking habits.
What the authors conclude
- They say that turning the latest science into easy-to-understand knowledge could greatly help patients.
- Their goal is to use this information to improve global health, given how common both coffee drinking and heart disease are.
How it was done
Many people worry that coffee harms the heart, yet it is drunk widely and heart disease is becoming more common. The authors wanted to turn recent research into clear information for patients.
The authors gathered and examined studies that followed people over time, plus randomised controlled trials. They looked at how coffee drinking relates to heart and blood vessel diseases. The abstract does not state how many people or studies were included.
What it can’t tell you
- We summarised it from the abstract only.
- Studies that follow people over time can show a link between coffee and disease but cannot prove coffee causes the change.
- The effects of coffee can differ from person to person based on genes and habits, so results may not apply equally to everyone.
Who paid
- Authors work at
- University of California, USA; The George Washington University, USA
The paper
- Title
- Coffee and cardiovascular disease
- Type
- ReviewThe authors read earlier studies and describe what they found. It isn’t a new study.
- Evidence
- Studies in people
- Summarised from
- Abstract only
- Cite
- Dewland TA, van Dam RM, Marcus GM (2025). Coffee and cardiovascular disease. European heart journal. doi:10.1093/eurheartj/ehaf421PubMed 40626862DOI
Summary written 30 Sep 2026. Check it against the paper before it changes what you eat. How we summarise papers · Report an error