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El Pasoans react to new study revealing benefits of coffee drinking on heart health

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The question has always stood: Is coffee good for you or not?

The good news — or possibly bad news — for coffee drinkers is that researchers have officially found that there are benefits for your heart health by drinking coffee in the morning rather than throughout the day. 

February is American Heart Month, and heart disease is still the leading cause of death in the U.S.

This 19-year-long study by the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey analyzed over 40,000 adults and found heart health benefits by drinking coffee between 8 a.m. and 11 a.m. 

Drinking coffee before mid-day can lower blood pressure and sugar levels — while drinking it later can possibly worsen these effects and increase cortisol, impacting the body's circadian rhythm and causing sleep disturbances — all affecting cardiovascular health.

A cardiologist at Las Palmas Medical Center says that drinking more than 400 milligrams of caffeine a day — about 4 cups of coffee — induces high blood pressure and irregular heartbeats. 

"If you are diabetic, if you already have hypertension, if you already have an irregular heartbeat or what we call a cardiac arrhythmia, then you should try to avoid that caffeine because it might have more side effects on your health than benefits," said Dr. Juan Taveras.

Taveras also said that Hispanics, a large coffee-consuming population, are more susceptible to cardiovascular disease due to their prevalence in diabetes and hypertension. 

Researchers also found that morning coffee drinkers were 31% less likely to die from cardiovascular disease and have a 16% lower chance of dying from any cause. 

At Viejo Coffee, ABC-7 spoke with coffee consumers to see if they'd change their habits after hearing the new research. 

"I used to just drink black coffee, usually like six, seven in the morning, and then sometimes midday and then sometimes even at the time, like at 4:00 p.m.," said barista Karlos lopez. "But knowing this information probably cut down on the 4:00 p.m. coffee and then just drink it before 12 p.m."

"I work day shift, so I wait an hour till after I wake up and then I'll have my coffee and then I'll probably stop drinking it around 12 p.m. And then after that, I'm like 'no more,'" said Andraya Luna, a registered nurse. "So to hear that is really affirming because I probably will continue that habit."

This study also found that drinking throughout the day or late in the day cancels out any positive benefits that coffee may provide. 

Article Topic Follows: Health

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Nicole Ardila

Nicole Ardila is a multimedia journalist.

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