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Table 2 Cafestol and kahweol concentrations of coffee samples and predicted effects on serum cholesterol for consuming 5 cups daily. Coffee samples are from Singapore, Indonesia, India (current study) and Europe (Urgert et al, 1995) using various brewing methods.

From: Cholesterol-raising diterpenes in types of coffee commonly consumed in Singapore, Indonesia and India and associations with blood lipids: A survey and cross sectional study

     Predicted effect of 5 cups/day
Source of Coffee Sample Brewing Methods Cafestol (mg/cup) Kahweol (mg/cup) #Serum cholesterol (mmol/l) #Fasting triglycerides (mmol/l)
Current study (Asia)      
Singapore overall (n = 14) filtered ('sock') 0.09 ± 0.064 (0.02 - 0.23) 0.01 ± 0.02 (0.01 - 0.06) 0.01 <0.01
Singapore Chinese (n = 7) filtered ('sock') 0.13 ± 0.07 (0.04 - 0.23) 0.02 ± 0.02 (0.00 - 0.06) 0.01 0.01
Singapore Malay (n = 4) filtered ('sock') 0.06 ± 0.05 (0.02 - 0.13) 0.005 ± 0.01 (0.00 - 0.02) 0.01 <0.01
Singapore Indian (n = 3) filtered ('sock') only 0.04 ± 0.02 (0.03 - 0.07) 0.003 ± 0.005 (0.00 - 0.01) <0.01 <0.01
India (n = 5) filtered (metal) 0.05 ± 0.04 (0.01 - 0.12) 0.03 ± 0.03 (0.01 - 0.07) <0.01 <0.01
Indonesia (overall) (n = 4 ) filtered ('sock', metal); unfiltered 1.78 ± 1.78 (0.56 - 4.43) 0.24 ± 0.24 (0.09 - 0.59) 0.13 0.08
Indonesia (n = 2) filtered ('sock') 0.85 ± 0.42 (0.56 - 1.15) 0.15 ± 0.08 (0.09 - 0.20) 0.06 0.04
Indonesia (n = 1) filtered (metal) 0.98 0.09 0.07 0.04
Indonesia (n = 1) unfiltered 4.43 0.59 0.33 0.20
Urgert et al (1995) (Europe)      
Scandinavian boiled (n = 14)* boiled 2.4 ± 2.24 (0.64-9.68) 3.12 ± 2.72 (0.8-11.68) 0.18 0.11
Turkish/Greek (n = 11)*   3.12 ± 2.56 (0.4-8.0) 3.12 ± 3.12 (0.08-8.56) 0.23 0.14
French Press (n = 5)* French press 2.8 ± 0.96 (1.84-4.4) 3.52 ± 1.68 (2.08-6.4) 0.21 0.13
Espresso:      
Italy (n = 10)* espresso 1.2 ± 0.8 (0.16-2.32) 1.44 ± 1.04 (0.16-3.12) 0.09 0.05
Other (n = 21)* espresso 0.96 ± 0.72 (0.0-2.48) 1.12 ± 0.88 (0.0-3.12) 0.07 0.04
Instant* instant 0.2 (0.0-0.6) - 0.01 0.01
Drip filtered (n = 3)* filtered (paper) 0.08 ± 0.0 - 0.01 <0.01
Drip filtered (n = 3)* filtered (nylon) 0.64 ± 0.08 - 0.05 0.03
  1. Data are means ± SD (range). 1 cup is 120 ml.
  2. *Adapted from Urgert et al (1995b); for some of the samples no SD or range for cafestol or no data on kahweol was presented in this publication.# Based on the calculation proposed by Urgert and Katan (1997): Δcholesterol (mmol/l) = 0.015 × cafestol (mg/day) and Δtrigycerides (mmol/l) = 0.009 × cafestol (mg/day)
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