When it comes to coffee and heart health, it's not just how much you drink that matters but when you drink it, reveals a recent study. Researchers have also found the best time to drink coffee to protect your heart health.

The latest study published in the European Heart Journal found that people who drink coffee in the morning have a lower risk of death from cardiovascular disease and overall mortality risk compared to all-day coffee drinkers.

"This is the first study testing coffee drinking timing patterns and health outcomes. Our findings indicate that it's not just whether you drink coffee or how much you drink, but the time of day when you drink coffee that's important. We don't typically give advice about timing in our dietary guidance, but perhaps we should be thinking about this in the future," said Dr Lu Qi, who led the study at Tulane University, New Orleans in a news release.

These findings were based on analyzing the type, quantity, and timing of food and drinks consumed in one single day by more than 40,000 adults who were part of the U.S. National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) between 1999 and 2018. The researchers also analyzed a separate sub-group of 1,463 people who completed a detailed food and drink diary for an entire week. The participants were followed up for nine to 10 years and their cause of death was noted.

Analysis revealed that morning coffee drinkers were 16% less likely to die from any cause and 31% less likely to die from cardiovascular disease compared to non-coffee drinkers. However, no reduction in risk was observed when non-coffee drinkers were compared to all-day coffee drinkers.

The study also noted that morning coffee drinkers enjoyed protective benefits regardless of the number of cups consumed. However, light morning drinkers (one cup or less) experienced a smaller decrease in risk.

Researchers have not examined the exact mechanism behind why morning coffee benefits heart health. However, Dr. Qi suggests one possible explanation: drinking coffee in the afternoon or evening might disrupt circadian rhythms and hormonal levels, such as melatonin, which in turn could influence cardiovascular risk factors like inflammation and blood pressure.

"Further studies are needed to validate our findings in other populations, and we need clinical trials to test the potential impact of changing the time of day when people drink coffee," Dr. Qi added.

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