Coffee drinking does not lead to heart diseases
researchers have concluded after analysing a 30-year research on possible links between coffee/caffeine consumption and coronary heart disease and hypertension that it does not have any long-term effect on human health. They say there is no medical basis for urging people to give up coffee, beverages and other foods containing caffeine, especially from cardiovascular point of view ( Heart News , Vol 35, No 7).
A meta analysis -- a methodology to analyse studies published on a topic over past several years -- suggests that there is no association between coffee consumption and occurrence of coronary heart disease.
Even other large prospective studies with over 45,000 people aged between 45 and 75, which were not included in the analysis, also did not show any association between increasing levels of consumption of caffeinated coffee and risk of coronary heart disease or stroke. Significantly, the conclusions were independent of the method of coffee making -- boiling, filtering or other brewing methods used in European countries, and in North America.
Studies such as Framingham Heart Study, Evans County, Georgia Heart Study, Honolulu Heart Study, the Swedish Community Study were included in the analysis. Some large trials, however, could not come to a clear cut conclusion as they could not dissociate disconcerning factors such as cigarette smoking in the analysis. For example, the Framingham study reported an association between coffee drinking and cigarette smoking. Over 50 percent of women who drank six cups or more coffee per day were also found to be smokers. Even the American Medical Association agree with the Framingham results that coffee drinking is not a factor to promoting progression of atherosclerotic cardio-vascular disease".
Researchers also investigated possible links between coffee and hypertension. They found that those who had not consumed coffee before and started taking two to four cups of coffee, showed a significant increase in their blood pressure for nearly a week. But once they got habituated to coffee drinking, their blood pressure stabilised.
Another study called Hypertension Detection and Follow-up Programme ( hdfp ) was carried out in the us with over 10,000 hypertensive men and women. The study showed that regular coffee and even consumption of caffeine containing substances such as soft drinks, candy bars, brownies and analgesics are not related to hypertension, myocardial infarction, stroke and cancer.
At the same time, a recent study in The Netherlands suggests that unfiltered brew such as espresso and Turkish coffee are not healthy. Coffee brew contains a substance known as cafestol that is easily extracted in hot water. Researchers say that Cafestol appears to promote the accumulation of cholesterol in the body. But intake of cafestol can be avoided by filtration and taking instant coffee. During manufacturing process of instant coffee, cafestol is squeezed out of the crystals of coffee.
The effect of caffeine on cardio-vascular system varies from person to person. One cup of coffee, depending on how it is brewed, normally contains 85 to 250 mg of caffeine. This quantity is enough to increase a person's capacity to perform tasks that require alertness and precision. But those who do stressful jobs and those working at odd hours, are at risk because they have been found to consume as many as eight or more cups of coffee a day.
Unfiltered coffee could also contain 3-4 mg of cafestol. Researchers say that even if a tenth part of a milligram of the chemical ingested daily, it can raise levels of low density lipoprotein or cholesterol in the blood stream, which can be up to five per cent as compared to those drinking filtered coffee.
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