Does decaf raise bad cholesterol?

SCRIPPS HOWARD
Decaf, but not caffeinated, coffee may cause an increase in harmful low-density cholesterol, but may also be beneficial to some overweight people, according to a new study.
The findings, reported Wednesday at the American Heart Association's annual scientific meeting in Dallas, indicate that decaf coffee seems to increase specific types of blood fat that drive the production of low-density lipoproteins, or "bad" cholesterol, but also seems to boost production of high-density "good" cholesterol in people who are overweight.
Dr. Robert Superko, lead author of the study and chairman of preventive cardiology at the Fuqua Heart Center in Atlanta, said the problem with many coffee and health studies has been that they looked only at people's established coffee-drinking habits and tried to associate them with some disease risk pattern.
His team sought to test coffee in more controlled circumstances.
Officially, the Heart Association says the question of whether high caffeine intake raises heart-disease risk is still open, but advises that moderate coffee drinking, of one or two cups a day, doesn't seem harmful. Then again, coffee drinkers in the United States consume an average of about three cups a day.