A study conducted in Brazil about the effects of coffee and if decaffeinated coffee reduces any possible negative effects of coffee on the cardiovascular system. Coffee's benefits are traced to the presence of phenols and a reduction in the risk of developing coronary artery disease. However, caffeine consumption can raise the blood pressure and possibly make it unsafe to drink coffee for some parts of the population.
The researchers decided to take a look at the method of decaffeination , which is most popularly done using dichloromethane to leach out the caffeine. They wanted to know if this method canceled out the benefits of drinking the coffee by introducing chlorogenic acids into the beverage and increasing the toxicity risk. They decided to test this using lab rats and starting them out with caffeinated coffee and then after a week dividing them into groups and continuing some with caffeine, while giving others decaffeinated coffee and test the effects if any.
The tests administered on the rats measured their lipid profiles by determining their total cholesterol, HDL cholesterol and triglycedrides. They used blood tests with enzymes to determine the composition of each. They found that removing the caffeine from the coffee using whichever method needed, did not lead to a change in the lipid profile for the rats and had no platelet aggregation. They said they kept in relatively common caffeine level in the coffee and kept to the most widely used decaffeination method, because of the coffees popularity around the world, and the fact that 10% of coffee drinkers consume decaffeinated.
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