Best Brew for Your Blood Vessels

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Our heart doctor told my Dad to continue to drink coffee, as it helps as a diuretic for his congestive heart failure.

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Best Brew for Your Blood Vessels

Love coffee in the morning? Even more than your spouse? But a little worried that it (the coffee, not the spouse) could make your blood pressure go up? Go ahead, have a second cup. Turns out sipping moderate amounts of joe limbers up stiff arteries, doing your heart a big favor. Compared with people who skip coffee, those with high blood pressure who enjoy one to two cups daily have better "artery distensibility." Translation: Your blood vessels are better at expanding and contracting. Beneficial compounds in coffee make your blood vessels nearly as flexible as a Cirque du Soleil acrobat. Researchers discovered this new coffee benefit in Greece, where it's often made simply by tossing finely ground beans into the pot (think cowboy coffee, refined). One snag: unfiltered coffee raises LDL (the lousy kind of) cholesterol. So we recommend two or three tweaks: Choose lightly roasted beans. Go with decaf if regular keeps you awake or you know it regular raises your blood pressure. And use a paper filter to brew coffee. (By the way, caffeine decreases type 2 diabetes and dementia risks, so choose caffeinated if it doesn't affect you adversely.) Why? Light roasting preserves more phenols, which keep your blood vessels flexible. Decaf has almost as many phenols, so no worries there. And paper filters remove what raises LDL cholesterol. In a hurry? Grab instant. It's often made with less-expensive robusta beans, which are naturally high in blood vessel-friendly phenols. Brilliant. ======== The YOU Docs -- Mike Roizen and Mehmet Oz -- are authors of the best-selling "YOU: The Owner's Manual" and "YOU: On a Diet." To submit questions and find ways to grow younger and healthier, go to www.RealAge.com, the docs' online home.