Best time to drink coffee for heart health is in the morning, study suggests

A 2025 European Heart Journal study found that people who drank coffee before noon had lower overall and cardiovascular mortality than non-drinkers, while drinking coffee throughout the day showed no reduced risk.

New research suggests the time of day people drink coffee may be linked to heart health and longevity. The 2025 study, published in the European Heart Journal, focused on when people sip coffee rather than only whether or how much they drink. Researchers compared large U.S. survey data with a smaller cohort and linked that information to death records over about ten years. Study authors noted the analysis is observational and has limitations. Key findings: - The main analysis used 40,725 adults from the U.S. National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (1999–2008) and was compared with a separate study of 1,463 adults and death records over roughly a decade. - In the pooled data, 36% of participants drank coffee before noon, 16% drank coffee throughout the day, and 48% did not drink coffee. - Compared with non-coffee drinkers, morning coffee drinkers were reported as 16% less likely to die of any cause and 31% less likely to die of cardiovascular disease. - People who drank coffee throughout the day showed no reduction in mortality risk compared with non-drinkers. - The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends consuming no more than 400 mg of caffeine per day (roughly three to five cups of coffee). - Study authors suggested timing might affect the body’s circadian rhythm and hormones such as melatonin, which can influence sleep and blood pressure, and they emphasized that further research is needed because the study is observational. Summary: Morning coffee drinking was associated with lower reported overall and cardiovascular mortality in this analysis, while all-day coffee drinking was not associated with reduced risk. Researchers described the results as observational and called for further study to confirm the findings and to investigate possible mechanisms, with circadian rhythm and sleep mentioned as potential links.