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 1 to 2 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) cholesterol. So we recommend two or three tweaks: Choose lightly roasted beans; go with decaf if regular keeps you awake or you know it raises your blood pressure; and use a paper filter to brew coffee. (By the way, caffeine decreases the risk of type 2 diabetes and dementia, so choose caffeinated if it doesn't affect you adversely). Why? Light roasting preserves more phenols that 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.   October 13, 2010 12:00 AM by Mehmet C. Oz, MD, and Michael F. Roizen, MD