Despite the recent good news about coffee, as you know, drinking it is problematic at best for all sorts of reasons. Another good reason to consider stopping it: Depending on the presence of a specific gene, you may be elevating your risk of a heart attack significantly.

Patients who possess a specific variation of the gene in the cytochrome enzyme in the liver metabolize the caffeine in coffee more slowly. This specific trait may increase a patient's risk of a nonfatal heart attack by more than a third, based on a study of more than 4,000 patients in Costa Rica. Even worse, those risks jumped fourfold for coffee drinkers under age 50 in comparison to those with the same genetic makeup who seldom drank it.

In a telling statement from the lead researcher that may explain the variation, the study demonstrates one size does not fit all, part and parcel of the principles behind nutritional typing. What may be very healthy for others is not necessarily as healthy for you which is why proper eating according to your nutritional type is really the only way to learn what foods really are good for you.

Your healthiest and best alternative, regardless of your nutritional type: Clean fresh water.

Journal of the American Medical Association, Vol. 295, No. 10, March 8, 2006: 1135-1141

Yahoo News March 7, 2006

Science Daily March 8, 2006