Heart beating out of time? Have a cup of coffee.

Commonly people have always thought that drinking too much coffee is not good for you and that it can make certain people jittery. But, fresh new evidence seems to contradict this popular belief.

Researchers at the University of California have found that people who had more coffee a day – up to six cups or so – were less likely to suffer heart palpitations than those who drank less. In fact their research suggests that every extra daily cup of coffee above zero reduced the odds of being diagnosed with heart arrhythmia – an abnormal heartbeat – by 3 per cent.

The findings were based on data on nearly 400,000 British adults aged between 40 and 69 and it didn’t matter whether their coffee was caffeinated or non-caffeinated. Those that drank more coffee than two cups per day were more likely to be older, white and male. They were also more likely to smoke. But the study, in JAMA Internal Medicine, also found that they were less likely to have high blood pressure, diabetes or chronic kidney disease.

The results have sparked fresh debate about the health benefits of drinking large quantities of coffee which has been known to be stimulant for thousands of years and further research is on going.