Coffee & heart attacks.Coffee may raise your risk of a heart attack, but only if you metabolize me·tab·o·lize v. 1. To subject to metabolism. 2. To produce by metabolism. 3. To undergo change by metabolism. metabolize to subject to or be transformed by metabolism. caffeine caffeine (kăfēn`), odorless, slightly bitter alkaloid found in coffee, tea, kola nuts (see cola), ilex plants (the source of the Latin American drink maté), and, in small amounts, in cocoa (see cacao). slowly and you're in your 50s or younger. Researchers analyzed an·a·lyze tr.v. an·a·lyzed, an·a·lyz·ing, an·a·lyz·es 1. To examine methodically by separating into parts and studying their interrelations. 2. Chemistry To make a chemical analysis of. 3. blood samples from roughly 2,000 Costa Rican heart attack survivors and 2,000 similar people without heart disease--to see whether they had genes that result in the fast or slow version of the enzyme enzyme, biological catalyst. The term enzyme comes from zymosis, the Greek word for fermentation, a process accomplished by yeast cells and long known to the brewing industry, which occupied the attention of many 19th-century chemists. that metabolizes caffeine (cytochrome cytochrome (sī`təkrōm'), protein containing heme (see coenzyme) that participates in the phase of biochemical respiration called oxidative phosphorylation. P450 1A2). Fast metabolizers--who comprised roughly half the Costa Ricans--had no increased risk of heart attack, even if they reported drinking four or more cups of regular coffee a day. Ditto for slow metabolizers in their 60s or older. In contrast, younger slow metabolizers had a 64 percent higher risk of a heart attack if they drank at least four cups of regular coffee a day than if they drank one cup a day. The risk was 36 percent higher for slow metabolilzers who drank two or three cups a day. What to do: Until further studies confirm these findings and until you can easily find out if you metabolize caffeine slowly or rapidly you--can't tailor your caffeine intake to match your genes. J. Amer. Med. Assoc. 295: 1135 2006. |
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