Coffee: to drink or not to drink reviews the long-standing controversy over the health benefits and the unhealthy side effects of drinking coffee.
My Coffee Habit
I take at least two cups of coffee to jump-start my day. In the afternoon coffee refreshes my brain and stops it from that afternoon’s heavy-headedness.
How do I describe my feeling after a cuppa? There is nothing ecstatic about it because it’s not a drug. It is a refresher. I feel refreshed, brighter, and ready to go. And believe it or not, I get a jolt of inner warmth and calmness. In contrast to the many normal reactions of the ‘jittery’ feeling after a cup of coffee. I usually feel composed, with a clearer head, than when I haven’t had a cup. Think I am addicted? Maybe. But it’s my best beverage and would not trade it for any other.
So, for millions of people like you who depend on coffee to kick start the day, cholesterol is probably the last thing on your mind. This is as you wait for the morning jolt of caffeine to kick in. In the past few years, though, more and more evidence hints that coffee can increase cholesterol levels. How true? Let’s hear the professionals.
Which Is Safer: Unfiltered Or Filtered Coffee?
Experts say you don’t have to worry about the impact of a cup of coffee on cholesterol levels if you drink filtered coffee. This is because filtered coffee has much less of an effect on cholesterol than unfiltered coffee. Furthermore, filters seem to remove most of the cholesterol-boosting substances found in coffee. This is why for people who prefer espresso or other varieties of unfiltered coffee, a cholesterol check may be in order.
So even when people who drink unfiltered coffee are advised to switch to filtered brew. Experts stressed that not everyone needs to be excessively concerned about the effect of unfiltered coffee on cholesterol. Why? This is because cholesterol levels are a combination of lifestyle, eating habits, and the genes inherited. A healthy person with low cholesterol probably doesn’t need to worry too much about the effect of coffee on cholesterol levels.
Moreover, unfiltered coffee has much less effect on your heart-disease risk than smoking, high blood pressure, or being overweight. However, if you want to optimize your cholesterol levels, you should avoid large daily amounts of unfiltered coffee.
Unhealthy Lifestyle Is Also A Factor
But filtered vs. unfiltered may not be the most important question to ask about coffee and cholesterol. There are other factors to the coffee story. This includes how much people drink and what they are doing besides drinking coffee. Such things as smoking, consumption of a high saturated fat diet and alcohol, as well as living a sedentary life. The worst combination though is smoking with coffee drinking. This lethal combination can increase the stiffness of arteries more than each of the activities alone.
Don’t Look For A No Or Yes Answer
Coffee: to drink or not to drink, when making decisions about coffee, experts encourage people not to look for a yes or no answer. It’s not a simple question of ‘drink coffee’ or ‘don’t drink coffee.’ Although unfiltered coffee may contain substances that raise cholesterol levels. And in any case, many popular coffee drinks sold at cafes and restaurants contain other ingredients such as cream or milk and sugar which raise questions of their own about cholesterol. Therefore, people should examine their lives and cardiovascular risk factors. This will enable them to make a decision about how much and what type of coffee to drink.
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