| MadSci Network: Anatomy |
Dear Matt,
Hello! You are correct--caffeine has a stimulatory effect on cardiac muscle function. From what data that I can find, coffee consumption does not appear to increase the risk for heart attacks (see SA Rosner, Am. J Epidemiology vol. 165, p. 288, 2007) and a history of coffee drinking seems to improve your chances of recovery from a heart attack (myocardial infarction)(see KJ Mukamel, Am. Heart Journal vol. 157, p. 495, 2009). You can access abstracts of these articles by going to a website called www.Pubmed.gov and typing in the author name and year associated with the article.
References:
Rosner SA, Akesson A, Stampfer MJ, Wolk A.
Coffee consumption and risk of myocardial infarction among older Swedish women.
Am J Epidemiol. 2007 Feb 1;165(3):288-93. Epub 2006 Nov 16.
Mukamal KJ, Muller JE, Maclure M, Sherwood JB, Mittleman MA.
Increased risk of congestive heart failure among infarctions with nighttime onset.
Am Heart J. 2000 Sep;140(3):438-42.
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