Boiled Coffee : An Arctic Example of Potential Residual and Unmeasured Confounding in Coffee Epidemiology

• Coffee culture differs all over the world and affects the chemical composition of coffee, as well as quantities consumed and lifestyle factors associated with coffee drinking. Boiled coffee is a good example of residual or unmeasured confounding in an Arctic population with two heterogeneous coffee cultures. Although filtered coffee is the most common caffeine brew in this area today, for cultural reasons boiled coffee—traditionally prepared on a stove top or overan open fire—still plays an important role in the population. There are chemical differences between boiled coffee and drip-filtered coffee that might have an impact on public health regarding lifestyle-related diseases. There are certain lifestyle factors, such as leisure-time hunting and fishing, first full-term pregnancy at an early age, and low education level, that are positively associated with the consumption of boiled coffee and inversely associated with the consumption of filtered coffee. The Scandinavian Arctic boiled coffee example illustrates that, when interpreting chemical differences between different coffee brews, lifestyle factors related to coffee culture should always betaken into consideration or at least discussed as apparent candidates of residual or unmeasured confounding.

Subject headings

MEDICIN OCH HÄLSOVETENSKAP  -- Hälsovetenskap -- Folkhälsovetenskap, global hälsa, socialmedicin och epidemiologi (hsv//swe)

MEDICAL AND HEALTH SCIENCES  -- Health Sciences -- Public Health, Global Health, Social Medicine and Epidemiology (hsv//eng)

Keyword

boiled coffee

filtered coffee

confounding

Arctic lifestyle

näringslära

Nutrition

Publication and Content Type

vet (subject category)

kap (subject category)