kahvedelisi wrote:ask your doctor and do what he/she says. If you don't trust him/her enough, find another doctor and repeat those tests. There's no kind way of saying this so if I sound rude please don't take offence. "we are not doctors, we are coffee enthusiasts. and that's not enough to make us eligible for giving advice about your health. even if we were doctors, none of us saw you in person or saw your complete test results and we don't have any detailed info about your health background. I understand your need for suggestions and/or your curiosity about the matter but believe me that's a dangerous path to take. in addition; if someone claim he/she is a doctor and can diagnose without seeing you in person, simply don't listen.."


hope everything turns out well for you

+1 100%

As a medical professional, I found this topic fascinating. As you can see I don't post often, but visit the site everyday to learn more about coffee from IMO the most knowledgeable enthusiasts on the net. Amazingly enough, now medical advice is being given from non-medical professionals on a coffee site. Whats next, financial advice? On the bright side though, everyone has the best of intentions. I know Adrian will follow the doctors orders and was seeing if any medical professionals (hopefully) had any insight.

I don't mean to be disrespectful in any way, but if we were being responsible, thinking adults we wouldn't be giving medical advice without proper training and experience.

Has anyone tried filtering espresso? A small paper filter could work.....maybe?

jherm77 wrote:One of the barriers to proper patient education is with access to the internet, everyone is a doctor.

Fair enough, but perhaps the dissemination of knowledge to all people is a good thing. Luckily, in most areas where profit or politics is not involved, there is not a substantive campaign of misinformation to obfuscate issues. Thus, it strikes me that, more often than not, the validity of the consensus opinion is fairly robust. Anyone, who has observed the accuracy of the "Ask The Audience" lifeline on "Who Wants To Be A Millionaire" knows what I mean.

Reason enough to bring the topic here, not simply to commiserate, but also to seek the unique points of view that only espresso aficionados can proffer. Saying I should just cut out the espresso is a bit like suggesting a monkey just cut out the bananas. Only the good folks on HB could quite understand my perspective.

Good post Adrian

I do not see medical advice being passed out here but rather a call to Adrian to get another test of his cholesterol levels. He appears to be bright enough to realize that he has several choices.

He can cut out espresso and switch to drip and monitor his cholesterol down the road to see if that keeps it in check.

He can continue to live a good lifestyle including exercise and healthy diet.

This course of action may not work if his genetic predisposition is one that would lead to his body accumulating bad cholesterol but if his particular isotypes of enzymes are hypersensitive to products in espresso the latter may give Adrian a choice to cut the espresso and see results.

and/or

He can follow the advice of his personal physician and take a statin and see if his cholesterol levels can be properly regulated without any adverse side effects.

Good luck Adrian.

here are a family physician's $.02.
cholesterol issues are strongest as risk factors for people who already have substantial cardiovascular risk. so a cholesterol elevation for someone with diabetes, heart disease, hypertension, or smoking is a different matter for the general public, for who cholesterol is still a relatively minor risk factor.
second, your cholesterol/hdl ratio is the most influential number, and a number of 4 or more is quite good.
third, coffee is loaded with antioxidants and has been reported to have other benefits: decreased risk of certain cancers, dementia, among others.
fourth, would you rather live well or long? since i doubt very much that espresso shortens a life substantial, this is a bit tongue in cheek, but even on the risk that i'll lose a few minutes of my life expectancy, i'll take my espresso.

best
Steve, MD

Well, I would have imagined that the Italians (and Spaniards) would have got higher cholesterol levels than the rest of the world population. Yet, they seem to live for a long while. Sometime ago, I heard that dark coffee roasts were cancerogenous, but yet again, that is not supported by a high number cases. It is probably true but I think not everybody reacts equal.

Cheers

GC7 wrote:your cholesterol/hdl ratio is the most influential number, and a number of 4 or more is quite good.

To pile on to the medical-advice/opinions-on-the-net-might-be-hazardous theme, a cholesterol/hdl ratio of 4 or less is best: a lower total cholesterol, or a higher HDL component. At my hospital's lab, the reference range is up to 4.5; higher than that is elevated

sbien wrote:...would you rather live well or long? since i doubt very much that espresso shortens a life substantial, this is a bit tongue in cheek, but even on the risk that i'll lose a few minutes of my life expectancy, i'll take my espresso.

An excellent point! Quality of life is something that I have reflected heavily upon in the past. But what does it mean to live well? My position on this is that our bodies are finely tuned physiological constructs based on endless generations of genetic refinement. Thus, in my mind, to live well means to live in such a way as to honor this body and to allow optimal expression of this genetic potential. That is: be healthy in mind, body, and spirit, and you will be happy.

Arpi wrote:Some time ago, I heard that dark coffee roasts were carcinogenic, but that is not supported by a large number of cases. It is probably true, but I think not everybody reacts equally.

The carcinogenic potential is related to the presence of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, but these are rather water insoluble. If you ATE the coffee grounds, it might present a bigger problem, but drinking the aqueous extract (espresso) is more akin to running water over charcoal, a process commonly used to eliminate impurities in drinking water.

sweaner wrote:Has anyone tried filtering espresso? A small paper filter could work.....maybe?

Scott has a good idea. I tried it today. The resultant espresso had no crema at all and had a very flat profile. It immediately reminded me of drip coffee and of espresso made from aged green beans: the same sort of laid-back profile that allows you to pick out the subtleties. All those big, bold fruit and citrus tones? Pretty much gone, as expected. But the flavor of the coffee bean remains. Actually not bad, and definitely workable for cappuccino.

Also, I switched to PLAIN soy milk for the cappuccinos. I started out with vanilla-flavored soy milk which is absolutely abominable!

(This is neither medical nor diet advice, just an observation.)

When did we get into moronic supersizing? Go to a fast food place and it's "we can give you huge portions, but the food sucks." After that, you go to the doctor and it's "we can give you many, many years, but your life will suck."

drdna wrote:Also, I switched to PLAIN soy milk for the cappuccinos. I started out with vanilla-flavored soy milk which is absolutely abominable!

So, what's wrong with 1% milk for cappuccinos? You get to cut way back on fat, over the other fattier milks. It still tastes good and has decent enough creaminess - and you do not have to use soy, etc.

I, for one, have to watch my cholesterol, and have found the 1% Solution to be a good solution. (I can't stand skim milk.)

Howard