Make Mine a Quintuple or Sextuple
by: Pm - August 8th, 2007
For years, people have been telling me that I drink too much coffee; that it’s going to hurt this or that organ… one guy even called me a caffiend (which, BTW, really isn’t a bad screen name.) Why? Because for decades coffee has been unjustly vilified by the media, by know-it-all neighbors and friends… even by physicians (most of which aren’t required to take a single course in nutrition, mind you). Now it looks like coffee-lovers like me are getting the last laugh. Recently, at least a half-dozen studies have demonstrated that coffee helps delay, even prevent, common maladies ranging from age-related memory loss to more serious diseases like diabetes, liver disease, and Parkinson’s. Better yet, a huge long-term Harvard study involving 128,000 men and women found that heavy coffee drinking does not increase the risk of coronary heart disease (CHD). To the contrary, women who drank more than 6 cups of coffee daily had a 28% lower risk for CHD! Another 2007 study printed in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition suggests why: flavonoids. Coffee, like tea, cocoa, red wine, and a number of other plant foods contains, powerful antioxidants called flavonoids. After adjusting for variables such as age, energy intake, smoking, and physical activity, researchers found that the higher flavonoid intake was associated with a 10% reduction in total mortality, a 12% reduction in CHD and a 9% cent reduction in cardiovascular disease (CVD). Interestingly enough, coffee is a major contributor to most American’s total daily antioxidant intake.
Coffee appears to protect against diabetes too. Though they don’t know exactly how it works, American and Finnish researchers say that drinking 4-plus daily cups-o-coffee reduces your risk of developing Type II diabetes by about 23% if you’re a man and by 11% if you’re a woman. Originally, coffee’s caffeine content was thought to increase insulin sensitivity. However, other recent studies using decaffeinated coffee have yielded similar, or greater, results suggesting that other naturally compounds (magnesium or polyphenolics like chlorogenic acid), may be responsible. Either way, both “leaded” and “unleaded” coffee seems to help keep glucose disposal maximized and insulin resistance away.
Really, really like your coffee, like me? Then your risk for Parkinson’s disease is nearly 75% less than your non-coffee-drinking counterparts. At least based upon the findings of research published earlier this year in the European Journal of Clinical Nutrition. In this study, researchers examined consumption patterns among 6,700 men and women and found that drinking lots (8-10 cups daily) of coffee could significantly reduce the risk of Parkinson’s. Although the compound(s) responsible for coffee’s protective effects were not directly examined in this particular study, a previous French study paper published in the American Journal of Epidemiology reported that increased intake of flavonoids in the diet, can help slow the decline of cognitive performance. What’s more, two additional studies, one involving older men and another focusing on older women, found that 3 or more daily cups of joe reduces mental decline by as much as 33%. Again, some combination of caffeine and/or flavonoids is believed to be responsible for the improvements that were seen.
Is coffee some sort of miracle elixir? Probably not (though wouldn’t the folks at Starbucks relish the thought…) But, IMO it’s about time that it gets its due. As I country, we Americans drink approximately 3.2 cups of coffee/day (though guys like me probably bring up the average). Not bad. Based upon the research, this is probably enough psychostimulant to keep our memories’ sharp and slow the onset of those “senior moments.” Add an extra cup a day and you might just might keep the diabetes away; add 7 more and you can practically kiss Parkinson’s (not to mention, all your money) good by.
While it’s great that coffee is finally being vindicated of its ill-gotten reputation (nothing like telling the naysayers, “I told you so.”), my motivations for drinking coffee are simple: (1) I like the taste and (2) I like the mental and physical energy it gives me. Whatever your reasons for drinking coffee, do so proudly – and in good conscience.
Till next time…
Happy Heaving,
PM
What Grinds My Gears
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Drinking coffee seems to protect the liver
Thu Aug 9, 2007 10:59AM EDT
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Data from 10 studies conducted in Europe and Japan suggest that people who drink coffee may be reducing their risk of liver cancer, although the reasons for the apparent protective effect of coffee remain to be determined.
The 10 studies reviewed by Dr. Francesca Bravi from Milan's Istituto di Ricerche Farmacologiche "Mario Negri" and colleagues included 2,260 cases of HCC. Collectively, the results showed a 41 percent reduction in the risk of liver cancer (or hepatocellular carcinoma, HCC) among coffee drinkers compared to those who never drank coffee.
Low to moderate coffee drinkers -- defined in some studies as those who drank less than 3 cups per day and in others as less than 1 cup per day -- had a 30 percent lower risk of HCC compared to coffee abstainers. High coffee consumption -- defined in some studies as 3 cups or more each day and in others as 1 cup or more per day - had a 55 percent lower risk of HCC.
"Moreover, the apparent favorable effect of coffee drinking was found both in studies from southern Europe, where coffee is widely consumed, and from Japan, where coffee consumption is less frequent, and in subjects with chronic liver diseases," the researchers note in their report in the medical journal Hepatology.
Animal and laboratory studies have suggested that certain compounds in coffee may block harmful enzymes involved in the development of cancer. Coffee drinking has also been linked to a lower risk of cirrhosis of the liver and chronic liver disease, which are the major risk factors for HCC. "Thus, there seems to be a continuum of the favorable effect of coffee on liver enzymes, cirrhosis, and HCC," note the authors.
Liver cancer is the third leading cause of cancer deaths in the world after lung and stomach cancer, with about 600,000 deaths in 2002.
Although a cause-and-effect relationship between coffee and liver cancer can not be determined based on the data, the current analysis provides "quantitative evidence" of a protective effect of coffee drinking on liver cancer, Bravi and colleagues write.
As reported by Reuters Health earlier this month, Japanese researchers recently found that drinking three or more cups of coffee a day may cut the risk of colon cancer in women by half.
SOURCE: Hepatology, August 2007.