COFFEE MAY HELP PREVENT MENTAL DECLINE IN PEOPLE WITH AFIB

-

 

COFFEE MAY HELP PREVENT MENTAL DECLINE IN PEOPLE WITH AFIB

A new study in the Journal of the American Heart Association finds that drinking up to or more than five cups of coffee daily may help cognitive function in people with irregular heart rhythms.


    


New research published on Dec. 14, 2024, in the Journal of the American Heart Association, an open-access, peer-reviewed journal of the American Heart Association, suggests that drinking multiple cups of coffee daily may help prevent cognitive decline in people with atrial fibrillation (AFib or AF).

"Many myths are around, but our study found no reason to discourage or forbid a patient with AFib from drinking coffee. Instead, say, 'Enjoy, it may even be good for you!'" said Jürg H. Beer, M.D., senior study author and professor of medicine and hematology at the University of Zürich in Switzerland.

Atrial fibrillation is the most common heart rhythm disorder in adults, affecting more than 5 million people in the U.S., according to the American Heart Association. The 2023 ACC/AHA/ACCP/HRS Guideline for the Diagnosis and Management of Atrial Fibrillation noted that abstaining from caffeine to prevent heart rhythm disturbances does not benefit people with AFib. The guideline also notes that abstaining from coffee could reduce symptoms in patients who report that caffeine triggers or worsens their AFib symptoms, which can include rapid heartbeat, dizziness, fatigue, and more.

"It is known that regular coffee consumption benefits cognitive performance among healthy people. The most frequent cardiac arrhythmia, atrial fibrillation, is known to independently increase the risk of dementia," said Massimo Barbagallo, M.D., lead author of the study and a resident in the neuro intensive care unit at the University Hospital Zürich. "Thus, the question is whether coffee might offset the increased risk of cognitive impairment in people with AFib."

According to the U.S. federal dietary guidelines, three to five 8-ounce cups of coffee per day can be part of a healthy diet, but that only refers to plain black coffee. The American Heart Association warns that coffee-based drinks such as lattes and macchiatos are often high in calories, added sugar, and fat.

The Swiss Atrial Fibrillation Cohort Study (Swiss-AF) follows more than 2,400 people in Switzerland diagnosed with atrial fibrillation. Between 2014 and 2017, patients were enrolled, completed several cognitive tests, and reported how many cups of caffeinated coffee they drank during the last 12 months—regardless of added sweeteners, creams, or flavors. The cup size was not standardized.

In this study, researchers analyzed those cognitive assessments and examined whether drinking coffee might avoid the mental decline that is a known hazard of AFib. Because Alzheimer's disease and AFib are associated with systemic inflammation, researchers also analyzed markers of inflammation.

The study found:

  • Overall, higher cognitive test scores were associated with higher coffee consumption.
  • Specifically, scores for processing speed, visuomotor coordination, and attention improved significantly by 11% among coffee consumers compared to non-consumers.
  • The cognitive age of those who drank the most coffee was calculated to be 6.7 years younger than that of those who consumed the least.
  • Inflammatory markers were more than 20% lower in participants drinking five cups daily than in participants drinking less than one cup daily.
  • Researchers found no interaction between age, sex, and coffee consumption.

"There was a very clear and consistent "dose-response" association between drinking more coffee and doing better on several different sophisticated cognitive tests," Beer said. "Inflammatory markers decreased with higher coffee consumption, an association that remained after considering variables such as age, sex, body mass index, smoking status, physical activity and a history of stroke."

Researchers noted that previous studies suggest that the protective effects of regular coffee consumption against cognitive decline in the elderly may be attributed to caffeine and other active ingredients, including magnesium and vitamin B3 (Niacin), or to coffee's role in reducing chemicals that cause inflammation.

José A. Joglar, M.D., FAHA, chair of the 2023 joint guideline on managing atrial fibrillation, cautioned that this observational study cannot conclude that coffee prevents long-term cognitive decline.

"Other studies have shown coffee has cognitive-enhancing functions across the board. This, however, is not specific to the AFib population. We cannot conclude that coffee prevents long-term cognitive decline," said Joglar, professor of Internal Medicine at UT Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas. "Coffee does not seem to worsen AFib so there is no need to stop drinking it. However, we cannot say starting to drink coffee would prevent AFib or prevent long-term cognitive decline."

The study's limitations include the fact that researchers measured participants' cognitive ability and coffee consumption at the same point in time. This means that the study could not evaluate differences in cognitive decline with age and that the reported current coffee drinking may not reflect changes in consumption over the previous years. As a cross-sectional study taking place at one point, it cannot establish a cause-and-effect relationship between drinking coffee and cognitive performance. Additionally, the study may not be generalizable to other populations as it included a primarily white population in Switzerland, where people tend to drink espressos.

"To detect a relevant cognitive decline, a follow-up of at least 5-10 years is required. However, the nutritive habits including coffee consumption reported by participants reflect exposure over many years and we likely see here the results of this," Barbagallo said.

Study details, background, design:

  • The study included 2,413 people (average age 73; 27% women) with atrial fibrillation enrolled in Sthe Wiss Atrial Fibrillation Cohort Study (Swiss-AF) between 2014 and 2017. Swiss-AF is ongoing at 14 centers across all language regions in Switzerland.
  • Participants had undergone at least eight years of monitoring for stroke, mini-stroke, inflammation, blood markers of blood clotting, brain imaging, and repeated cognitive testing. Patients were excluded from the analysis if they had experienced only brief episodes of AFib that resolved without treatment or could not give informed consent.
  • At enrollment, participants reported their caffeinated coffee consumption over the past year, with responses summarized as less than one cup a day, one cup a day, two to three cups a day, four to five cups a day, and more than five cups a day. The cup's size or caffeine concentration per cup was not quantified, and adding creams, sugars, or flavors was not considered.
  • At enrollment, participants completed cognitive tests measuring verbal skills, executive functioning, memory, processing speed, visual-motor coordination,n, and attention. These were combined into an overall rating of cognitive ability called the Cognitive Construct (CoCo). Participants also completed a 30-point screening test for cognitive impairment, the Montreal Cognitive Assessment, which gauged visuospatial and executive functions, object naming, memory, attention, language, and abstraction abilities.
  • Participants were also evaluated for depression using the Geriatric Depression Scale so researchers could determine whether cognitive performance had likely been altered by depression.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Learn How the NEW Nutrition Facts Label Can Help You Improve Your Health

-
Image
  Learn How the NEW Nutrition Facts Label Can Help You Improve Your Health The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued new regulations changing the  Nutrition Facts  label external  icon  on packaged foods. This is the first major change to the label since it was introduced in 1994. The changes are based on updated science, the most  recent dietary  recommendations, external  icon , and public input. Using the new label can help you choose foods for a healthy diet. The label will be required on all packaged foods made in the United States and imported from other countries. The new label is already appearing on packages. Most items will have the new label by January 1, 2021. What is changing? Calories & Fat Larger, darker letters make calories the easiest item to see on the new label. When it comes to health outcomes, the type of fat you eat matters more than the overall amount of fat. For this reason, the label will no longer show the per...
Read more

MUSCLES EXERCISING POWERS NEURON GROWTH AND REPAIR

-
Image
  MUSCLES EXERCISING POWERS NEURON GROWTH AND REPAIR The findings suggest that biochemicals released during exercise and the physical effects of exercise could help heal nerves. Exercise is good for the body. Regular activity strengthens muscles and can strengthen bones, blood vessels, and the immune system. Now, MIT engineers have found that exercise can also have benefits at the level of individual neurons. They observed that muscles contract during exercise and release biochemical signals called myokines. In these muscle-generated signals, neurons grew four times further than neurons not exposed to myokines. These cellular-level experiments suggest that exercise can have a significant biochemical effect on nerve growth. Surprisingly, the researchers also found that neurons respond to the biochemical signals of exercise and its physical impacts. The team observed that when neurons are repeatedly pulled back and forth, similar to how muscles contract and expand during trainin...
Read more

CANNABIS, THE PHANTOM MENACE, MORE DANGEROUS THAN IMAGINED

-
Image
  CANNABIS, THE PHANTOM MENACE, MORE DANGEROUS THAN IMAGINED  Scientists have known for some time that cannabis use has deleterious effects on health long-term. The evidence keeps piling up of how dangerous this drug can be.  A recent study conducted at McGill University showed how cannabis increases the risks of psychosis. These are just the latest concerns, as cannabis has also been implicated in increasing heart attacks and stroke risks, according to a study of 430,000 adults conducted by the American Heart Association. According to findings at McGill University, Young adults at risk of psychosis show reduced brain connectivity, a deficit that cannabis use appears to worsen. In the first-of-its-kind study, McGill University researchers detected a marked decrease in synaptic density -- the connections between neurons that enable brain communication -- in indivi...
Read more