Coffee may cut heart failure risk But benefits come from caffeinated java, analysis shows By American Heart Association News Published: February 16, 2021, 5:11am Share: Drinking one or more cups of coffee a day may reduce the risk of heart failure, according to new research. But only if it’s caffeinated. The analysis of data from three large, well-known heart disease trials was published in the American Heart Association journal Circulation: Heart Failure. It found the more coffee people drank, the lower their risk for heart failure. But that benefit didn’t extend to people who drank decaf. “The association between caffeine and heart failure risk reduction was surprising,” senior author Dr. David Kao said in a news release. Kao is an assistant professor of cardiology and medical director at the Colorado Center for Personalized Medicine at the University of Colorado School of Medicine in Aurora.