Whether coffee is good or bad for you depends on who you ask and when. It seems that a new study comes out every year saying coffee can protect or harm your heart. Unless you have a heart condition or your doctor has told you to avoid caffeine, there's no reason to completely avoid coffee. Experts recommend staying under 300 mg of caffeine per day, as this is considered a safe amount.
Cholesterol
Coffee might increase your cholesterol, but only in certain cases. According to Dr. Michael Klag from the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, filtering coffee gets rid of the substances that would increase your cholesterol levels. This means using a coffee machine makes the coffee healthy for drinking, but using a French press will not eliminate the cholesterol-increasing substance.
Amount of Coffee
Drinking one or two cups of coffee per day is likely to have no impact on your heart health. Problems might come if you drink large amounts or if you there are other factors that come into play. Cholesterol increase seems to happen only on people who drink large amounts of coffee, about six cups per day. If you suffer from heart disease already, coffee might affect you more than if you have no heart disease. Smoking also increases your chances of developing heart disease.
Stroke
Despite the effect of coffee on cholesterol, drinking coffee doesn't seem to significantly increase your risk of heart disease. In fact, a 2010 study published in the "Arteriosclerosis, Thrombosis, and Vascular Biology" journal shows that drinking coffee might slightly reduce the risk of coronary heart disease and stroke.
Blood Pressure
Drinking coffee increases blood pressure. The effect, however, is only temporary. As the body processes caffeine, blood pressure will return to normal. Even people who drink large amounts of coffee will experience an eventual drop in their blood pressure readings after hours or days. People who have very high blood pressure might have to reconsider drinking coffee. People with normal blood pressure should experience no lasting problems.
References
- NBC News; Coffee and Cholesterol; Merritt McKinney; 2011
- Harvard Medical School; Coffee Health Risks: For the Moderate Drinker, Coffee is Safe Says Harvard Women's Health Watch; 2004
- Today's Dietitian; Coffee and Heart Health --- The Answers to Many Common Questions Are Still Brewing; Jenna A. Bell, PhD, RD, CSSD; September 2010
- "USA Today"; Coffee May Have Perks For Longer Living; Angela Haupt; June 2008
- "New Scientist"; Guzzling Coffee May Cut Heart Disease; Ewen Callaway; June 2008
- University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign; Caffeine; 2006
