These studies were presented at an American Heart Association conference this week.

This conference offers a number of provocative studies about coffee and various aspects of heart health.

If you just can’t do without your caffeine, this may be reading which helps you see what appears to be safe.

Business Week

(HealthDay News) — “Coffee drinkers can take heart from a series of studies presented this week at American Heart Association conferences in San Francisco.

“For example, coffee drinkers appear to have a lower risk of hospitalization for abnormal heart rhythms. And there’s no indication that having a few cups every day increases the risk of atherosclerosis, the thickening of blood vessel walls that can lead to heart attacks and other problems. What’s more, something in coffee other than caffeine might be responsible for a reduced risk of diabetes for women who regularly imbibe java. (Emphasis added)

“Not every report at the AHA’s annual conferences on Cardiovascular Disease Epidemiology and Prevention and Nutrition, Physical Activity and Metabolism was totally upbeat for coffee lovers. One report did find a potential link between coffee drinking and high blood pressure, but the effect was described as “modest.” And, like the other studies, it came hedged with the caveat that the finding wasn’t based on a controlled trial — the gold standard for assessing risk and benefit — but from observational studies, which don’t exclude all possible factors.” (Emphasis added)

Source: Business Week, March 2, 2010