Healthnotes Newswire — For many people, the morning routine often includes an eye-opening cup of coffee to start the day. According to a recent study in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition,¹ eliminating coffee from your diet may be a key factor in reducing your risk for heart disease. High blood levels of homocysteine and cholesterol have been well established as important risk factors for heart attacks and stroke. While earlier studies have confirmed that drinking coffee raises homocysteine and total cholesterol levels, this is the first study to demonstrate that avoiding coffee actually lowers these substances in the blood.

The study included 191 nonsmoking participants who had previously been regular coffee drinkers, averaging four cups of caffeinated coffee per day. The participants were divided into three groups who were asked to consume no coffee at all, 1–3 cups daily, or more than 4 cups per day for a total of six weeks. The results of the study showed that the group that had abstained from coffee had a significant decrease in blood levels of total cholesterol and homocysteine. However, neither homocysteine nor cholesterol values changed in the groups that continued to drink coffee. Levels of folic acid, which has been shown to be an important nutrient for lowering homocysteine, increased significantly in the group that abstained from coffee, but did not change in the two groups of coffee drinkers.

The link between coffee and homocysteine may go deeper than just the bottom of the coffee cup. Scientists have been investigating what it is in coffee that actually causes these potentially harmful effects. While coffee contains literally dozens of compounds, there is at least one that may be responsible for the elevation of homocysteine levels. Research from earlier this year found that chlorogenic acid, a major substance found in coffee and black tea, raised homocysteine concentrations in the blood.² On the other hand, tea may contain other substances that help protect the heart.³ More research is needed to clarify this issue.

Beyond heart disease, coffee consumption is associated with a number of other health concerns, including anemia, colon cancer, migraine headaches, osteoporosis, and premenstrual syndrome, to name just a few. Hippocrates said prevention is the best medicine and it may be that cutting back or stopping your daily coffee routine will be your next step toward better health and longevity.