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There may indeed be a causal relationship between drinking
unfiltered coffee and high cholesterol levels. Researchers
analyzed 14 previously published studies that examined the
relationship between coffee consumption and elevated cholesterol
levels.
Heavy consumption of caffeine or coffee has long been suspected
to have a cholesterol-raising effect, but studies investigating
the associations have yielded conflicting results.
The result of the current review demonstrates that, on average,
drinking six cups of coffee was significantly
associated with an increase in total cholesterol, LDL ("bad")
cholesterol and triglycerides, but not HDL ("good")
cholesterol levels.
However, Americans consuming filtered
coffee can raise their coffee cups with peace of
mind with respect to the cholesterol levels, because the results
point to coffee oils as the main cholesterol-raising
culprit.
These tend to be found in higher concentrations in nonfiltered
or boiled coffee.
Experiments using boiled or nonfiltered coffee had a stronger
cholesterol-raising effect than did those using filtered coffee.
American Journal of Epidemiology
February 15, 2001; 153: 353-362
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