Heavy coffee drinking may increase abdominal aortic calcification for some

Adults with hypertension, diabetes, and cardiovascular diseases may benefit from cutting back on coffee, especially the caffeinated variant, which has been shown to increase the burden of abdominal aortic calcification in a study.

For the study, researchers used data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) 2013–2014 and included a total of 2,548 participants.

Information regarding coffee intake was obtained from 24-hour dietary recalls. Meanwhile, dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry facilitated measurement of the severity of abdominal aortic calcification.

Multivariable analysis with a fully adjusted model showed that relative to nonconsumption, high coffee consumption (≥390 g per day) was associated with higher abdominal aortic calcification scores among participants with hypertension (β, 0.72, 95 percent confidence interval [CI], 0.21–1.22), diabetes (β, 1.20, 95 percent CI, 0.35–2.05), and cardiovascular diseases (β, 2.03, 95 percent CI, 0.71–3.36).

Caffeine consumption had no effect on abdominal aortic calcification among participants without hypertension, diabetes, and cardiovascular diseases.

Finally, intake of decaffeinated coffee was not associated with abdominal aortic calcification, regardless of the presence of hypertension, diabetes, and cardiovascular diseases.

The findings suggest that adults with hypertension, diabetes, and cardiovascular diseases should focus on reducing intake of caffeinated coffee in order to reduce the burden of abdominal aortic calcification.