There is an interesting new study that found drinking coffee every day reduces cardiac arrhythmias.

Plus, the more you dink - the better your odds!  This is especially good news for seniors; the older a person is, the more likely it is for them to have arrhythmia's.

This is one of many health benefits found from drinking coffee.  You can find out more by web search.  Drinking coffee seems like a safe and healthy thing to do - unless you have problems with stomach acid, or if the caffeine bothers you.  Some people may get more Tinnitus, if they are prone to that condition, from caffeine.

Click here to find out more about coffee and arrhythmia.

There are oils in coffee called Terpenes.  These oils can cause the body to produce more Cholesterol.  People do not realize that some of the cholesterol in your blood is not just from eating, but is in fact produced by your liver.  There are various reasons for why the body makes Cholesterol; but too much and you get a buildup in the arteries.

Drinking UN-filtered coffee is the Terpenes oils are in coffee. So that includes the Espresso machine, and the French Press; these put you at risk.  Your favorite Latte or Cappuccino will likely contain these oils.  Its important to learn because no one yet found all the causes of heart disease; people keep dying unnecessarily.  So if those at risk can eliminate one of those causes, that's huge!

It appears that the paper filter in drip coffee makers does remove the Terpenes oils.

So who should be concerned?  Anyone with a history of heart disease, and anyone with risk factors.  If you mom or your grandfather has had heart problems, you might be at risk - and should have second thoughts about any non-filtered coffees.

If your family has no history of heart disease, and you are not overweight and not a smoker, then you probably have low risk for Cholesterol-related problems - and thus a French Press, or anything from an Espresso machine, should be fine.

We are talking with various local and 'chain' coffee shops about this, and will do a followup report so you know who is addressing this issue, and who is not.   Actually you can tell easily - when you walk into a coffee shop or restaurant, and they are brewing decaf in their drip machine all day, and all night, then you have the health option to get a decaf brewed by paper filter.  Now in some coffee shops, they are not aware of this issue or even worse, they care more about profit's than the convenience and health of their customers - and so they refuse to brew decaf with a paper filter.  Its hard to understand why a coffee shop would refuse.

What makes matters worse, in terms of heart health, is that there is some strong evidence now that sugar can cause a rise in Cholesterol levels.  The liver reacts to sugar as part of its metabolism.  And think where you encounter a lot of sugar: at the coffee shop, with your flavored and sweetened Latte, and those tasty pastries they are always tempting you with.  So its a double-edged sword..

We are hoping to find some flexibility in independent coffee shops, and in the big chains too.  Stay tuned.

And now for some good news; there is one coffee press that includes a paper filter - it is called the Aeropress, and its quite popular now - you can read our review, and here is a picture of one:

 
Here are some articles we found on Terpenes oils and raising Cholesterol:

NBC News
Coffee Crew
LiveStrong
Nutralegacy
FoodGoat
Benecol

You can keep  up with this topic by using Google News search, which also has a news alert/subscription option, and ask your doctor. It will help to educate your local coffee shop; have them read this article, and do some online research too.

It is very unfortunate that coffee shops do not post information about this.  Being pro-active about health is important.

Researchers have found that coffee improves long term Memory.   In a recent study, participants could recall a picture that they saw the day before with greater ease if they had drank some coffee.

Study subjects were shown a series of pictures, and right after that they were given a pill - either Caffeine, or a placebo.   The next day, when tested, they did better on recalling the pictures if they had taken the caffeine pill.

What made this study unique is that the caffeine was given after they saw the images.  This was important, to rule out if other effects of coffee like elevating mood could have caused the participants to focus more as they saw the pictures.  By serving the caffeine after viewing the photos, it is focused more on just their memory ability.

The study was reported in Nature Neuroscience.