Study: Caffeine Protects Elderly Hearts

Drinking caffeinated beverages may protect the elderly against heart disease death, New York researchers have found.

The protection against death from heart disease in the elderly afforded by caffeine is likely due to caffeine’s enhancement of blood pressure, said Dr. John Kassotis, an associate professor of medicine at SUNY Downstate.

The heart-protective effects of caffeine was only found in patients age 65 and older who were not severely hypertensive.

The researchers from SUNY Downstate and Brooklyn College used data from the first federal National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey Epidemiologic Follow-up Study. They found that participants 65 or more years old with higher caffeinated beverage intake had a lower risk of coronary vascular disease and heart mortality than did participants with lower intake of caffeinated beverages.