THE RISK

Beside those benefits, coffee drinkers may also have risks such as:

· Cosmetic

Coffee causes staining of the teeth, just like tea.

· Cholesterol

Coffee brewed using a French press method contains oils (cafestol and kahweol) otherwise trapped by more commonly used paper filters. In two short-term studies, these oils are thought to have raised LDL cholesterol levels by 10 percent. The risk is not present in paper filtered coffee.

Coffee made by the Scandinavian method of boiling or by the cafetiere method may cause mild elevation of plasma cholesterol concentration in some people but instant and filter coffee have no such effects. Although coffee elevates plasma homocysteine levels this effect is not large enough to have a significant effect on the risk of heart disease.

· Blood Pressure

A recent study by Harvard Med that set out to prove that the caffeine in coffee would put people at risk for high blood pressure ended up rejecting the hypothesis. 155,000 nurses were followed for 12 years and the results showed that large amounts of coffee did not induce a "risky rise in blood pressure”. As a note, this study did not include men.

In some sensitive individuals, ingestion of coffee after a period of abstinence may cause a temporary rise in blood pressure but there is no persistent hypertensive effect in the long term.

· Effects on Pregnancy

A February 2003 Danish study of 18,478 women linked heavy coffee consumption during pregnancy to significantly increased risk of stillbirths (but no significantly increased risk of infant death in the first year). "The results seem to indicate a threshold effect around four to seven cups per day," the study reported. Those who drank eight or more cups a day (64 U.S. fl oz or 1.89 L) were at 220% increased risk compared with nondrinkers. This study has not yet been repeated, but has caused some doctors to caution against excessive coffee consumption during pregnancy.

Decaffeinated coffee is occasionally regarded as a potential health risk to pregnant women, due to the high incidence of chemical solvents used to extract the caffeine. These concerns have almost no basis, however, as the solvents in question evaporate at 80–90 °C, and coffee beans are decaffeinated before roasting, which occurs at approximately 200 °C. As such, these chemicals, namely trichloroethane and methylene chloride, are present in trace amounts at most, and neither pose a significant threat to unborn children.

In the UK, the Food Standards Agency issued guidelines for caffeine intake during pregnancy with an upper limit of 300mg/day. This figure is in line with that stated in 1999 by the EU Scientific Committee on Food who said that 'While intakes up to 300mg/day appear to be safe, the question of possible effects on pregnancy and the offspring at regular intakes above 300mg/day remains open.

There’s no need to worry about stay consuming coffee, one thing you need to concern is the amount of your intakes very day.