
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: TUESDAY, March 3, 1992                   TAG: 9203030145
SECTION: EXTRA                    PAGE: E-3   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: ROBIN HERMAN THE WASHINGTON POST
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

IF YOU DRINK COFFEE, MAKE IT FILTERED AND IN MODERATION, RESEARCHERS SAY

Coffee is off the hook again. America's second favorite beverage (behind soft drinks) has been accused repeatedly of links to heart disease, cancer and other health problems over the years. But while some studies have suggested an association between coffee-drinking and adverse health effects, no research has ever nailed down a cause-and-effect relationship. For every study that says the aromatic brew might be harmful, another says it does no damage.

Now perhaps the most rigorous study to date of coffee-drinking and changes in blood cholesterol levels has shown that filtered coffee does not increase the risk of heart disease in this way. Researchers at Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions found that moderate coffee-drinking (four cups per day) did raise levels of low-density lipoproteins (LDL) - the so-called bad cholesterol that can lead to heart disease. But it also raised levels of high-density lipoproteins (HDL), which are protective against heart disease. The two increases would statistically cancel out any change in risk. (Decaffeinated coffee showed no effect on cholesterol levels.)

"We think we have laid to rest the coffee-cholesterol issue," said Roy Fried, the lead researcher in the study published last week in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

"The hypothesis is that there's some lipid-enriched factor in coffee that is removed by filtering but is not removed when you boil it or perk it," said Peter Kwiterovich, a co-author. "Basically, the message is: Filtered coffee in moderation appears to be OK."

Meanwhile, a different group of researchers at Johns Hopkins, monitoring an ongoing, long-term study of more than 1,000 former medical students, is finding that men drinking five or more cups of coffee per day do have a higher risk of heart disease. Scandinavian studies have also shown a strong statistical link between heart disease and drinking unfiltered, boiled coffee - the preferred method there.

What is a coffee consumer to think?

"You feel like you're a punching bag knocked one way or the other with these new reports," said Michael Jacobson, executive director of the Center for Science in the Public Interest, a consumer lobby group that has followed the coffee controversy and has conducted some of its own research. "I think an . . . appropriate reaction is to avoid extremes and hedge your bet. If you're drinking more than a few cups of coffee a day, cut back."

by CNB