Although Mostofsky and colleagues did not investigate why moderate coffee consumption appears to offer modest protection against heart failure, they speculate it could have something to do with how coffee consumption affects diabetes and high blood pressure, two of the biggest risk factors for heart failure.
Senior author Murray Mittleman, a physician at BIDMC's Cardiovascular Institute, said:
"There is a good deal of research showing that drinking coffee lowers the risk for type 2 diabetes."
"It stands to reason that if you lower the risk of diabetes, you also lower the risk of heart failure," he added.
Another reason could be studies have consistently shown that light coffee and caffeine consumption raises blood pressure.