Study challenges advice to avoid coffee for those with atrial fibrillation

[medicalxpress.com]

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https://medicalxpress.com/news/2025-11-advice-coffee-atrial-fibrillation.html
But a study by UC San Francisco and the University of Adelaide has concluded that drinking a cup of caffeinated coffee a day reduced A-Fib by 39%.

This isn't the first study to find this result though it's the most impressive number I've seen.

I've been preaching this for years but the myth is so pervasive that almost no one believes it. Want to know how ridiculous it can it get? My sister had permanent afib. She was asymptomatic and her rate stayed below 100 without drugs, so she just took her Eliquis and lived a normal life. But then she once told me how much she missed coffee. I asked why she doesn't drink it. Her answer was that her cardiologist told her caffeine was absolutely forbidden. Talk about a lack of reasoning skills. She's in permanent afib, doc. What harm do you think caffeine is going to do?

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Carey

But a study by UC San Francisco and the University of Adelaide has concluded that drinking a cup of caffeinated coffee a day reduced A-Fib by 39%.


This isn't the first study to find this result though it's the most impressive number I've seen.

I've been preaching this for years but the myth is so pervasive that almost no one believes it. Want to know how ridiculous it can it get? My sister had permanent afib. She was asymptomatic and her rate stayed below 100 without drugs, so she just took her Eliquis and lived a normal life. But then she once told me how much she missed coffee. I asked why she doesn't drink it. Her answer was that her cardiologist told her caffeine was absolutely forbidden. Talk about a lack of reasoning skills. She's in permanent afib, doc. What harm do you think caffeine is going to do?

For your sister maybe tachycardia instead of a controlled hr.

I don’t drink coffee. However I would LOVE to have chocolate. I just pass by a Starbucks and sniff the scent of hot chocolate and I get frustrated. I was told not to eat it. Then after my first or second ablation I took a tiny tiny bite of chocolate and ruined my ablation by my afib returning right afterwards. My NP at the time told me it isn’t my fault because if she or others ate my trigger, nothing would happen. She could stuff her face. However if one is prone to genetic disposition of getting afib, then they have a higher risk of getting afib.

Just to explore another position on this is that the group was not really randomized, they were self-selective, i.e., all were coffee drinkers. That means they arguably tolerated caffeine a lot better than, say, the population of non-coffee drinkers who self-removed themself from this study.

So it's a very interesting result, but it does not necessarily translate into that non-coffee drinkers who take up drinking coffee will benefit. For that, they would need the opposite trial cohort to be randomized, i.e, a cohort of non-coffee drinkers, with one half taking up coffee. Personally, I doubt the results would be as good for a number of reasons, including that coffee triggers reflux in many, which can trigger Afib.

Jim

I've mentioned before that years ago, some members reported that coffee was a trigger, but when they switched to organic coffee, no more trigger. As non organic coffee is reported to be highly treated with chemicals, it could be from something beyond caffine. I don't drink coffee, so no personal experience to report.

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susan.d
For your sister maybe tachycardia instead of a controlled hr.

Nope. She tried some coffee at my urging and nothing happened, just as expected. So she went back to drinking it regularly.

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Then after my first or second ablation I took a tiny tiny bite of chocolate and ruined my ablation by my afib returning right afterwards.

You can't ruin an ablation. (Remember the monkey in the cage analogy.) All you can do is demonstrate that either you're still in the blanking period or your ablation was not fully successful.

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mjamesone
Just to explore another position on this is that the group was not really randomized, they were self-selective, i.e., all were coffee drinkers. That means they arguably tolerated caffeine a lot better than, say, the population of non-coffee drinkers who self-removed themself from this study.

Did you read the full paper? The study design was probably as solid as you can get when investigating any food/drink/nutrition issue. You can't force people to eat or drink anything in a study, so trusting self-reporting is pretty much a necessity. And whatever sampling bias is there seems very unlikely to be capable of producing the magnitude of the results.

I'm not saying caffeine can't be a trigger for some people. Hell, almost anything can. What I'm saying is that people in general and doctors in particular need to quit preaching that caffeine is a trigger for afib. For some it is and for others it isn't, but the available evidence (more than this study) points to it not being a trigger for most, and probably also being somewhat helpful for most.

See, I think this is a big QOL issue with afib. I can't count how many people I've seen give up all sorts of things they love in life just because their doctor or some stranger on the internet told them it's an afib trigger.

You bring up several points. However, my comment only relates to this particular study. Yes, well designed, but since it included only habitual coffee drinkers, its results can’t automatically be applied to those who don’t drink coffee or can’t tolerate caffeine.

Jim

Well, I would agree the results can't be applied to people who don't drink caffeine, but that's okay since they don't care.

Well, I would agree the results can't be applied to people who don't drink caffeine, but that's okay since they don't care.


Yes and there's a large, let's call it "middle group", and that's where I fall, who are not habitual coffee drinkers like the study group, but aren't strictly abstainers. They might easily be influenced by the study to start drinking coffee on a regular basis. My only point is that the study results can't be applied to this group, which we both agree on.

Jim

I have a cup of coffee every morning. And 2 pieces of dark chocolate every evening. And I have found no relationship to a fib.

I have (controlled) AF and routinely enjoy tea each morning plus a coffee mid-afternoon....and not a small one of either. Yuuge. No problems. And yes, I do sense the effects of the caffeine and theobromine. I can feel a stronger pulse in my lower neck without palpating the area. My heart reacts!

However, we keep saying to each other that we're all different. There's a member 'lindy6' on the Mayo Community Connect fora whose almost sole post is to warn people off caffeine if they've been diagnosed with AF. This person, I believe an older woman, swears up and down that she can't even take a whiff of anything with caffeine, anything whatsoever, without it causing her heart to fibrillate. Others have reported the same thing. So, as much as it isn't a problem with me, I can't say it won't be for anyone else. We are each responsible to how we react to external stimuli, including if it can reasonably be said to kick off AF.

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Carey

For your sister maybe tachycardia instead of a controlled hr.

Nope. She tried some coffee at my urging and nothing happened, just as expected. So she went back to drinking it regularly.


Then after my first or second ablation I took a tiny tiny bite of chocolate and ruined my ablation by my afib returning right afterwards.

You can't ruin an ablation. (Remember the monkey in the cage analogy.) All you can do is demonstrate that either you're still in the blanking period or your ablation was not fully successful.

I’d rather think I personally ruined a good ablation than find fault that my ablations all were failures with complications. My monkey’s cage after 3 ablations is larger and I’ve seen to had a lot burned, plus my 4th AV node ablation was burned. I don’t know where else in my chambers isn’t in my cage.

Your sister has your super power genes. Not that many can go on an exhausting 50 mile bike ride days after an ablation.

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susan.d
Your sister has your super power genes. Not that many can go on an exhausting 50 mile bike ride days after an ablation.

Nah, she just wasn't symptomatic as long as her heart rate was kept under control and metoprolol did that nicely for her. I don't think I have any sort of super power genes. I've talked to many people who felt just as I always did following ablations and didn't need to limit themselves beyond the lifting restriction.

Hmm. The emergency room doctor who first diagnosed my afib was proudly up on her high horse when she told me no caffeine, NO alcohol, and get my weight under control. Still, I quit the coffee (was at 5 cups a day) and the alcohol, but have not addressed weight yet.

Got a ZIO patch on the next day. At the end of the week, I mischievously experimented with my ZIO patch. Had one beer one evening. Had one coffee the next morning. In the results, (100% afib, by the way) the coffee made my heart race. I am normally around 76 bpm, but the coffee put me over 100 for a bit. It made sense to me that I should not make my heart race like that. So I am still off coffee.

NOW, the interesting thing is I have been on Lisinopril for years. And now I have gotten off from it, because sans coffee and alcohol, my blood pressure is down to 120/72 with no medication. This really doesn't seem possible, but there it is. My cardiologist can't believe my blood pressure dropped 30 points, apparently over quitting coffee.

Interestingly, this cardiologist gave different advice than the ER doctor. She said if I really was only having two drinks a day previously, I could resume that intake. In the meantime, I have been in afib since July now, and am hoping one of the better ablation doctors can get me treated in January.

Lastly, my friend with afib has a doctor who also told him he can have two beers a day. His health is so bad, though. He is in a wheel chair due to a disabled leg and a bad back. He is even more over weight than I am, has had kidney cancer, plus some dementia symptoms. Plus he refuses to tolerate his CPAP machine. I think his doctor has just concluded, "whatever dude, have a couple beers if you like, it's not going to make much difference." They treat his afib with meds and Eliquis. His doctor tried to get him to quit beer entirely, but patient would not agree. So doctor settled for him dropping down to two beers a day.