The Effect of Coffee Consumption on Serum Total Cholesterol Level in Healthy Middle-Aged Men

Shin, Myung Hee; Kim, Dong Hyun; Bae, Jong Myun; Lee, Hyung Ki; Lee, Moo Song; Noh, Joon Yang; Ahn, Yoon Ok

Abstract

In present study, the authors investigated the possible effect of coffee consumption on serum cholesterol level in 1017 men between the ages of 40 and 59 years, who were randomly selected from the members of Seoul Cohort Study. Serum total cholesterol data was collected with other serologic indices(e.g. systolic blood pressure, diastolic blood pressure, hight, weight, etc.)through the program of biennial health check-up offered by Korean Medical Insurance Corporation(KMIC). The amount of coffee consumption was assessed by a self-administered questionnaire through mailing. Other confounding factors, such as age, body mass index, cigarette smoking, alcohol consumption, physical activity, and other dietary intake pattern were also determined by the questionnaire. The differences in means of serum total cholesterol in compared to non consumers were -0.4+/-3.56mg/dl for those drinking less than 1 cup a day, -0.6+/-3.60mg/dl for those drinking 1 cup a day, and 7.1+/-3.41mg/dl for those drinking more than 2 cups a day. Since smoking interacted the relationship between coffee consumption and serum total cholesterol, we re-analyzed those relationship in smokers and non-smokers separately. Other atherogenic behaviors were well correlated with total cholesterol, so we adjusted the mean values of serum total cholesterol through multivariate model selection with age(r=0.12), total cigarette index(cigarette-years; r=0.10), Quetelet's index(kg/m2, r=0.16), daily calory expenditure(kcal/day, r=0.06), weekly meat and poultry consumption(g/week, r=0.05), weekly fish consumption(g/week, r=0.08), other caffeinated beverage intake(cups/week), and the amount of sugar and prim added to the coffee. Among those variables only age, Quetelet's index, fish consumption, and total cigarette index(in smokers)were remained in the models. After adjustment, the corresponding differences of total cholesterol in smokers were changed to 0.4+/-5.24mg/dl, -0.5+/-4.97mg/dl, and 8.9+/-4.78mg/dl, which were significantly different among themselves(P=0.011). In non-smokers, however, the differences were not statistically significant(P=0.76). Adjusted mean values of systolic blood pressure and diastolic blood pressure were also determined to evaluate the direct effect of coffee to cardiovascular system, but their means were not significantly different by coffee consumption(p=0.18 for SBP, P=0.48 for DBP). Assuming instant coffee on the most popular type of coffee in Korea, the association observed in our study between coffee and serum total cholesterol, especially in smokers , is very interesting finding for the connection between coffee and serum total cholesterol, because only 'boiled coffee' tend to show significant lipid raising effect rather than to other types of coffee, like filtered or espresso, in most of the western countries. We concluded that people who drink coffee more than 2 cups a day have significantly higher serum total cholesterol level than those who never drink coffee, especially in smokers.