Coffee In Moderation May Be A Healthy Choice

By Dr. Brian McDonough, Medical Editor

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) - If you like that cup of coffee there may be another great reason to enjoy it. Researchers have found that daily moderate coffee drinking may be linked with a lower risk of heart failure.

You might be wondering what I'd considered the right amount of coffee. They define moderate consumption as two typical American coffee shop beverages, or two 8 ounce servings, and found that drinking this amount may protect against heart failure by 11%.

The study included 5 studies which involved almost 150,000 people.

The obvious question to be asked is whether more is better? As is often the case, more is not better.

Drinking 4 to 5 coffees found in American coffee shops has no benefit and could even be harmful.

In case you are wondering about official recommendations, the American Heart Association recommends that heart failure patients consume no more than 1 to 2 cups of coffee daily.