Palpitations after eating: how they start, which food and drink play a part and when to call a doctor

In this article you will read why your heart can pound or race after a meal, which food and drink are linked to palpitations after eating, what your stomach may have to do with it and when to call a doctor. That matters, because palpitations can give you quite a fright the first time, even though they are usually not dangerous.⁠² If you know which signs do count, you can act at the right moment. BioProfile’s heart and blood vessel scan gives you an indication of where you stand today with your heart and blood vessels. The scan is not a diagnosis. It is insight into where you stand today, to help you make better choices in your diet and lifestyle. The scan cannot find the cause of a palpitation. Only a doctor can do that.

Why heart palpitations can happen after eating

The Hartstichting names a heavy meal as one possible cause of palpitations.⁠¹ Thuisarts puts fatty food on the list of everyday triggers, alongside caffeine, alcohol, smoking, drugs, stress, anxiety and tiredness.⁠² If palpitations follow a meal, also look at what came with that meal: the coffee afterwards, a glass of wine, a short night.

Tired with palpitations after eating: the two can go together. Thuisarts names tiredness as one of the triggers,⁠² and a heavy meal is another.⁠¹

In older people, researchers have measured another change after a meal. In 13 studies with 3,021 older people, about four in ten had a drop in blood pressure after eating. That was about a third of people living at home and about half of those on a hospital ward for older patients.⁠⁴ Put simply: a dip in blood pressure after a meal is common later in life. Whether it plays a part in your own symptoms is a question for your doctor.

Which foods and drinks are linked to heart palpitations

Caffeine is the best known. The Voedingscentrum lists palpitations among the effects of too much caffeine, along with headaches, trembling, dizziness, restlessness and trouble sleeping.⁠⁵ For healthy adults who are not pregnant and not breastfeeding, the limits are 400 milligrams a day and 200 milligrams in one go. A small cup of filter coffee (125 ml) contains about 60 milligrams, a cup of black tea about 30, a can of energy drink (250 ml) about 80 and a glass of cola about 20.⁠⁵ In plain words: three small cups of coffee straight after your evening meal come close to the limit for one go.

In one trial, 100 adults wore a heart monitor that recorded without a break for 14 days, and on some days they were told to drink coffee and on other days to skip caffeine. Coffee days brought an average of 154 extra beats a day from the lower chambers of the heart, against 102 on days without caffeine. Extra beats from the upper chambers did not clearly increase.⁠³ On coffee days, people also slept about 36 minutes less a night and took about 1,058 more steps.⁠³ What this means for you: coffee can cause extra beats that you may feel as a skipped beat or a thump, and it can cost you some sleep. Moving more is the pleasant side of that trade. You can read what too little movement does in what too little movement does to your body.

Alcohol has been measured in people with atrial fibrillation, a heart rhythm disorder that comes and goes. In 100 people followed for four weeks with a heart monitor and an alcohol sensor on the skin, one drink went along with roughly twice the chance of an episode. Two or more drinks in the four hours before went along with more than three times the chance.⁠⁶ Put simply: in people with this condition, a drink with a meal can make an episode within a few hours more likely.

When 1,295 people with this form of atrial fibrillation were asked what triggered their episodes, 957 of them named at least one trigger. Alcohol came first (35 per cent), followed by caffeine (28 per cent), exercise (23 per cent) and too little sleep (21 per cent). Large meals were on the list, but were not among the most common answers.⁠⁷ Women reported more triggers in that study.⁠⁷ Heart symptoms in women have their own article: heart symptoms in women.

What research found about reflux disease and atrial fibrillation

A review of seven studies found that people with reflux disease, where stomach acid flows back up into the oesophagus, had atrial fibrillation slightly more often than people without reflux disease. The review included only a few studies, which varied widely, and the authors call for research that follows people over time.⁠⁸ Put simply: researchers see a link between the stomach and heart rhythm, but that link has not yet been established. A doctor can judge whether it applies to you.

Chest pressure: when to call a doctor

Palpitations that pass within a few minutes without any other symptoms are no cause for concern.⁠¹ Contact your GP or the out-of-hours GP service straight away if palpitations come with any of these symptoms: pain or pressure in or on the chest that lasts a few minutes; confusion, difficulty speaking, changes in your vision or a drooping face; restlessness, nausea, sweating and looking pale; difficulty breathing; feeling as if you are about to faint; or a sudden change in your heart rate that does not settle at rest.⁠²

Do you often have palpitations with no clear cause? Then the Hartstichting advises having your GP check your heart rhythm.⁠¹ If you want to know what a normal resting heart rate looks like, read normal heart rate.

What your GP can find

Besides the everyday triggers, Thuisarts names medical causes: fever, an overactive thyroid, anaemia, heart conditions, high blood pressure, diabetes and side effects of medicines.⁠²

A Dutch trial in general practice tested a small recorder that patients switch on themselves during an episode. With the recorder, 17 per cent of people with palpitations or a light-headed feeling with no known cause were left without a diagnosis, against 38 per cent with usual care alone. Relevant rhythm disorders were found in 22 per cent against 7 per cent.⁠⁹ What this means for you: a heartbeat that comes and goes is hard to catch in the consulting room, and recording it in the moment makes a clear answer much more likely.

In summary

This article showed that palpitations after eating are usually not dangerous, and that a heavy meal, fatty food, caffeine, alcohol and tiredness are everyday triggers.⁠^2,1 Coffee gives extra beats and alcohol raises the chance of an episode in people with atrial fibrillation.⁠^3,6 A link between the stomach and heart rhythm has been seen, but it is not yet established.⁠⁸ If you have chest pressure, trouble breathing or the feeling that you are about to faint, call straight away.⁠² The scan shows where you stand today. The scan is not a diagnosis.