Re: Coffee and cholestrol

From: Matti Narkia (mnng1_REMOVE_THIS_at_despammed.com)
Date: 10/09/04 

Date: Sat, 09 Oct 2004 18:18:38 +0300

<1097327951.377489.319350@z14g2000cwz.googlegroups.com> "Jan"
<shantigiri@luukku.com> wrote:
>
>Matti Narkia wrote:
>> 7 Oct 2004 20:23:59 -0700 in article
>> <1097205839.027700.66470@f14g2000cwb.googlegroups.com> "Zee"
>> <fresh~horses@despammed.com> wrote:
>> >
>> >> Related Medline references: <<<many>>>
>> >This is very depressing.
>> >
>> If it is any consolation, coffee consumption has been associated with
>a
>> reduced risk of type 2 diabetes and despite its cholesterol and
>homocysteine
>> raising effects, coffee consumption has not been conclusively
>associated
>> with coronary heart disease, the results from epidemiological studies
>have
>> been conflicting.
>
>I would prefer tea instead of coffee:
>
>Coffee drinking increases the short term risk of acute myocardial
>infarction or coronary death:
>http://tinyurl.com/4bfpb
>
>Consumption of tea was associated with lower risk of myocardial
>infarction, not coffee:
>http://tinyurl.com/4qbk5
>
Well, I prefer tea as well, but your two hand-picked references don't prove
a thing ;-). You have to look at all the existing studies. There are quite a
number of epidemiological studies about the association of coffee or tea
drinking with CHD. If you look at all the epidemiological studies about
coffee, you'll find that the results are conflicting, although newer studies
do to associate heavy coffee consumption with an increased risk of acute
coronary events. The effect seems to be J-shaped, so light consumption could
actually be associated with a reduced risk.

Happonen P, Voutilainen S, Salonen JT.
Coffee drinking is dose-dependently related to the risk of acute coronary
events in middle-aged men.
J Nutr. 2004 Sep;134(9):2381-6.
PMID: 15333732 [PubMed - in process]
<URL:http://www.nutrition.org/cgi/content/abstract/134/9/2381>

Panagiotakos DB, Pitsavos C, Chrysohoou C, Kokkinos P, Toutouzas P,
Stefanadis C.
The J-Shaped Effect of Coffee Consumption on the Risk of Developing Acute
Coronary Syndromes: The CARDIO2000 Case-Control Study.
J Nutr. 2003 Oct;133(10):3228-32.
PMID: 14519815 [PubMed - in process]
<URL:http://www.nutrition.org/cgi/content/full/133/10/3228>

Hammar N, Andersson T, Alfredsson L, Reuterwall C, Nilsson T, Hallqvist J,
Knutsson A, Ahlbom A; SHEEP and the VHEEP study.
Association of boiled and filtered coffee with incidence of first nonfatal
myocardial infarction: the SHEEP and the VHEEP study.
J Intern Med. 2003 Jun;253(6):653-9.
PMID: 12755961 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]
<URL:http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=pubmed&dopt=Abstract&list_uids=12755961>

Tavani A, Bertuzzi M, Negri E, Sorbara L, La Vecchia C.
Alcohol, smoking, coffee and risk of non-fatal acute myocardial infarction
in Italy.
Eur J Epidemiol. 2001;17(12):1131-7.
PMID: 12530773 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]
<URL:http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=pubmed&dopt=Abstract&list_uids=12530773>

I'm aware of the beneficial effects of tea, but to demonstrate what one can
do by hand-picking studies and selective snippeting, I've purposely
hand-picked a couple of studies and snippets from them to create a somewhat
distorted picture about tea :-):

Woodward M, Tunstall-Pedoe H.
Coffee and tea consumption in the Scottish Heart Health Study follow up:
conflicting relations with coronary risk factors, coronary disease, and all
cause mortality.
J Epidemiol Community Health. 1999 Aug;53(8):481-7.
PMID: 10562866 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]
<URL:http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=pubmed&dopt=Abstract&list_uids=10562866>
<URL:http://jech.bmjjournals.com/cgi/reprint/53/8/481>

    "... For many conventional risk factors, coffee showed a weak, but
     beneficial, gradient with increasing consumption, whereas increasing
    tea consumption showed the reverse. Increasing coffee consumption was
    associated with beneficial effects for mortality and coronary morbidity,
    whereas tea showed the opposite. ..."

Peters U, Poole C, Arab L.
Does tea affect cardiovascular disease? A meta-analysis.
Am J Epidemiol. 2001 Sep 15;154(6):495-503.
PMID: 11549554 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]
<URL:http://aje.oupjournals.org/cgi/content/full/154/6/495>

    "... "With increasing tea consumption, the risk increased for coronary
     heart disease in the United Kingdom and for stroke in Australia ..."

McKay DL, Blumberg JB.
The role of tea in human health: an update.
J Am Coll Nutr. 2002 Feb;21(1):1-13.
PMID: 11838881 [PubMed - in process]
<URL:http://www.jacn.org/cgi/content/full/21/1/1>

    "However, the results from epidemiological and clinical studies of the
    relationship between tea and health are mixed." 

-- 
Matti Narkia

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