The (Imaginary) Evils of Coffee

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Drinking up to five cups of caffeinated coffee a day, its authors wrote, has been linked to a lower risk of heart attack, diabetes, stroke and irregular heartbeat.

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/has-science-finally-made-up-its-mind-about-coffees-health-benefits/

I have come to accept this as fact, despite vociferous objection by some on the Mayo Clinic Forums. Every bit of evidence I have encountered, and almost every YouTube health advocate and expert, including at least two EPs, have said the evidence is pretty darned solid in favour of moderate use of caffeinated drinks, barring added stuff like sugars and creamers.

Yeah, if you go on any forum in the world and declare that coffee doesn't cause or trigger afib, you'll get a zillion people screaming that it does for them. Since there are people who are triggered by things as harmless as cold drinks and lying on their left side, I'm not going to say no one is triggered by caffeine, but I think it's much rarer than people think and a lot of those people are reporting false positives. This happens because people try X one time, afib starts, and they conclude that X triggered it and refuse to touch X ever again. From a single trial that was probably just coincidence. After all, you have to have been doing something before your afib started, so it's almost like you're guaranteed to find a correlation with something when you go looking for it. But instead of actually testing it to confirm, they just take the single episode as proof and give up things they often really like. I understand the temptation. At one time I became convinced that MSG was a trigger for me. So I tested it. I went to the store and bought Accent, which is just a brand name for pure MSG. I mixed a teaspoon in a cup of water and drank it. Nothing happened. So the next day I tried again using a tablespoon. Nothing. So I did one last trial using several tablespoons, which is way more than you'd ever find in any food. Still nothing. So that proved to me that MSG is not a trigger for me. I celebrated with takeout Chinese.

So I made a practice of testing everything I suspected of being a trigger and I ended up ruling out almost everything. The only sure triggers I found were low potassium levels and under-hydration. (You've got to have a potassium meter to do this because potassium levels change hour by hour. What your bloodwork said yesterday doesn't mean anything today.)

I agree with Cary. We all want to know if there was/is a trigger, because if there was one, problem solved. It just happens! Over my history, I have had well over 200 episodes of afib (documented) and there was nothing identifiable regarding a trigger for any of them.

I do think there are things that can increase the chances of having an episode (do some research if you wish), but when you have afib, it WILL continue unless you get an ablation.

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Ken
I agree with Cary. We all want to know if there was/is a trigger, because if there was one, problem solved. It just happens! Over my history, I have had well over 200 episodes of afib (documented) and there was nothing identifiable regarding a trigger for any of them.

I do think there are things that can increase the chances of having an episode (do some research if you wish), but when you have afib, it WILL continue unless you get an ablation.

100 % agree!!!! Over my journey with atrial fibrillation, attempted to isolate the cause without any success. The only constant was the episodes gradually occurred more frequently. The only option for me was an ablation.

My experience with triggers.

Initially, higher intensity longer duration endurance exercise was a trigger. I got episodes every 10-14 days. These episodes had a delayed, parashympathetic trigger. However the episodes could be terminated with exercise as well. After a couple of months, I got an episode that would not convert and ultimately lasted 2.5 months. Quick progression... My then EP suggested I stay out of rhythm (this was 2004) as he did not like either the rhythm meds or ablations at the time. I propesed a "plan B" that included revamping training & supplementing with magnesium, potassium & taruine. I also asked for a script for on-demand flecanide to convert episodes (the seminal paper had been published in 2004). He agreed & I converted the 2.5 month episode with a loading dose of flec.

I ultimately learned that excessive intensity endurance exercise was definately a trigger and that training while nasal breathing for longer duration actvitty (and later for HIIT) made it not a trigger. The magnesium, potassium and taurine also helped (and afib would come quickly when I stopped taking them). For the most part I could keep my afib burden to < 0.05%/year.

Then I learned there were things that were not triggers, but could "lower the bar" to triggers. These have included excess calcium consumption, CV 19 vaxes and even lithiuum doses between 50 mcg and 1 mg/day (I've also had pm's from people telling me they know people where 150 mcg of lithium was a dramatic benefit for their afib - we are all different). When I'm in a stituation where the trigger bar has been lowered, then it is almost impossible to figure out what the triggers are. When I'm not in that situation, then, when following my supplement and exeercise protocol, I can do pretty much what I want. This includes short duration HIIT exercise and long duration exercise with nasal breathing as an intensity limit. I also randomly learned that stopping my intake of low dose methylene blue (0.3 mg/kg/day + 1/2 tsp ascorbic acid to chemically reduce it to leuco methelyne blue) quadrupled my PAC's/hour overnight during sleep (took me a while to figure out it was from stopping the MB ). Also learned that small doses (25 mg/day) of flec could keep afib at bay when I was in a situation where the trigger bar had been lowered (& I didn't yet know the cause - could take months or even a year to figure out that something was lowering the trigger bar and what it is ).

22+ years in to my afib career, and except for doing things that lower the trigger bar, afib frequency has not increased. I've only used flec chronically in the lower bar situations, otherwise only to convert and that usage very infrequent with a high trigger bar.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 08/16/2026 05:12PM by GeorgeN.