Coffee consumption and death from coronary heart disease in middle aged Norwegian men and women.

Abstract

Objective-To study the association between number of cups of coffee consumed per day and coronary death when taking other major coronary risk factors into account.Design-Men and women attending screening and followed up for a mean of 6-4 years.Setting-Cardiovascular survey performed by ambulatory teams from the National Health Screening Service in Norway.Participants Results-At initial screening total serum cholesterol concentration, high density lipoprotein cholesterol concentration, blood pressure, height, and weight were measured and self reported information about smoking history, physical activity, and coffee drinking habits was recorded. Altogether 168 men and 16 women died of coronary heart disease during follow up. Mean cholesterol concentrations for men and women were almost identical and increased from the lowest to highest coffee consumption group (13-1% and 10-9% respectively).With the proportional hazards model and adjustment for age, total serum and high density lipoprotein cholesterol concentrations, systolic blood pressure, and number of cigarettes per day the coefficient for coffee corresponded to a relative risk between nine or more cups of coffee and less than one cup of 2.2 (95% confidence interval 1-1 to 4.5) for men and 5-1 (0.4 to 60.3) for women. For men the relative risk varied among the three counties.Conclusions-Coffee may affect mortality from coronary heart disease over and above its effect in raising cholesterol concentrations. IntroductionThe cross-sectional association between coffee consumption and plasma or serum cholesterol concentrations has been studied extensively. A review article by Thelle et al covering 22 cross sectional studies and seven experiments in humans concluded that there is a direct relation between coffee consumption and total cholesterol concentration.' The strongest association of coffee and cholesterol was found in a study from Troms0 that reported a 10% increase in serum cholesterol concentration for men and an 8% increase for women when people not drinking coffee were compared with those drinking nine cups or more per day. For boiled coffee the association was even stronger: 12% in men and 10% in women.From prospective Norwegian data an increase of 10-20% has been found in deaths from coronary heart disease for each 0-5 mmol/l increase in cholesterol concentration when other risk factors have been adjusted for.3 La Croix et al found a 2 5-fold increase in

Diterpenes from coffee beans decrease serum levels of lipoprotein(a) in humans: results from four randomised controlled trials

“…The hypercholesterolemic potency of coffee diterpenes thus overrules their potential bene®cial impact on Lp(a) levels. This is evidenced by a higher rate of coronary heart disease in coffee drinkers in Norway (Tverdal et al, 1990), where boiled coffee is more common. Coffee diterpenes as such are thus unsuitable as a means of treatment for elevated Lp(a) levels, and a switch from ®ltered to un®ltered coffee is not warranted.…”

Levels of Cafestol, Kahweol, and Related Diterpenoids in Wild Species of the Coffee Plant Coffea

“…Intake of diterpene-rich coffee is associated with a higher risk of heart disease (Tverdal et al, 1990), but there are also tentative indications for a protective effect against cancer. Some epidemiological studies revealed a lower incidence of colon cancer with increasing coffee intake (as reviewed by the IARC Working Group, 1991).…”

Coffee and disease: an overview with main emphasis on blood lipids and homocysteine

“…The association between coffee and plasma homocysteine levels was unexpectedly observed in an extensive Norwegian study (31). This association, if biologically real, may explain why coffee consumption was a predictor of coronary death in an earlier Norwegian study, even after adjusting for both smoking and serum cholesterol (19). As mentioned earlier, the John Hopkins Precursor Study, with a follow-up time of 28Á/44 years, also showed a strong doseÁ/response association between coffee consumption and CHD among non-smokers (20).…”