Mercedes Bleth

The Case for Drinking as Much Coffee

as You Like
Coffee is no longer a guilty pleasure its actually benefical to your health.
By Lindsay Abrams

hat I tell patients is, if you

like coffee, go
ahead and drink
as much as you want and can,"
says Dr. Peter Martin, director of
the Institute for Coffee Studies at
Vanderbilt University. He's even
developed a metric for monitoring your dosage: If you are
having trouble sleeping, cut back
on your last cup of the day. From
there, he says, "If you drink that
much, it's not going to do you
any harm, and it might actually

help you. A lot." Officially, the

American Medical Association
recommends conservatively that
moderate tea or coffee drinking
likely has no negative effect on
health, as long as you live an otherwise healthy lifestyle. That is a
lackluster endorsement in light of
so much recent glowing research.
Not only have most of coffees
purported ill effects been disproven the most recent review
fails to link it the development of
hypertension but we have so,
so much information about its

benefits. We believe they extend

from preventing Alzheimers disease to protecting the liver. What
we know goes beyond small-scale
studies or limited observations.
The past couple of years have seen
findings, that, taken together, suggest that we should embrace coffee
for reasons beyond the benefits of
caffeine, and that we might go so
far as to consider it a nutrient. The
most recent findings that support
coffee as a panacea will make
their premiere this December in
the American Journal of Clinical

Nutrition. Coffee, researchers

found, appears to reduce the risk
of type 2 diabetes.There have been
many metabolic studies that have
shown that caffeine, in the short
term, increases your blood glucose levels and increases insulin
resistance, Shilpa Bhupathiraju,
a research fellow at the Harvard
School of Public Healths Department of Nutrition and the studys
lead author, told me. But those
findings really didnt translate
into an increased risk for diabetes
long-term. During the over 20

years of follow-up, and controlling

for all major lifestyle and dietary
risk factors, coffee consumption,
regardless of caffeine content,
was associated with an 8 percent decrease in the risk of type
2 diabetes in women. In men,
the reduction was 4 percent for
regular coffee and 7 percent for
decaf. The findings were arrived
at rigorously, relying on data from
the Nurses Health Study and the
Health Professionals Follow-Up
Study, two prospective studies that
followed almost 80,000 women
and over 40,000 men from the
1980s through 2008. Although
self-reported, the data is believed
to be extremely reliable because it
comes from individuals who know
more about health and disease
than the average American (the
downside, of course, is that results
wont always apply to the general
population but in this case, Bhupathuraju explained that theres
no reason to believe that the
biological effects seen in health
professionals wouldnt be seen in
everyone else).
That there were no major differences in risk reduction between
regular and decaf coffee suggests
theres something in it, aside from
its caffeine content, that could be
contributing to these observed
benefits. It also demonstrates that
caffeine was in no way mitigating
coffees therapeutic effects. Of
course, what we choose to add to
coffee can just as easily negate the
benefitsvarious sugar-sweetened
beverages were all significantly associated with an increased risk of
diabetes. A learned taste for cream
and sugar (made all the more
enticing when theyre designed to
smell like seasonal celebrations) is
likely one of the reasons why we
associate coffee more with decadence than prudence.
Coffee and caffeine have been
inexorably intertwined in our
thinking, but truth is coffee
contains a whole lot of other
stuff with biological benefits,
said Martin. And most concerns
about caffeines negative effects on
the heart have been dispelled. In
June, a meta-analysis of ten years

of research went so far as to find

all of which function as antioxian inverse association between
dants. Diterpenoids in unfiltered
habitual, moderate consumption
coffee may raise good cholesterol
and risk of heart failure. The
and lower bad cholesterol. And,
association peaked at four cups
okay, theres also ash which, to be
per day, and coffee didnt stop
fair, is no more healthful than you
being beneficial until subjects had
would think -- though it certainly
increased their daily consumption
isnt bad for you.
to beyond ten cups.
Some of the chemicals in coffee
Caffeine might also function as
are known carcinogens, though
a pain reliever. A study from Sepas far as we know thats only been
tember suggested as much when
seen in rodents, not in the small
its authors stumbled across caflevels we encounter in everyday
feinated coffee as a possible conconsumption. Findings, on the
founding variable in its study of
other hand, have been supporting
the back, neck, and shoulder pains
that coffee can protect against
plaguing office drones: Those who
some cancers. When the Harreported drinking coffee before
vard School of Public Health
the experiment experienced less
visited the Health Professionals
intense pain.
Follow-Up cohort in May
The data is Coffee and caffeine
2011, it found that coffees
have been inexorably protective effects extend
even more
intriguing
only to some types of
intertwined in our
and more
prostate cancer (the most
convincing thinking, but truth
aggressive types, actually).
for caffeines is coffee contains a
In a separate study of the
effects as
same population from this
whole lot of other
a salve
past July, they also found
against more stuff with biological
a reduced risk of basal cell
benefits, said Martin. carcinoma with increased
existential
pains. While
caffeine intake.
a small study this month found
The association was strongest for
that concentrated amounts of
those who drank six or more cups
caffeine can increase positivity
per day.
in the moment, last September
That same high dosage is also
the nurses cohort demonstrated
effective in fighting against cola neat reduction in depression
orectal cancer, according to a prorates among women that became
spective study from June of almost
stronger with increased consump500,000 adults conducted by the
tion of caffeinated coffee. But that
American Society for Nutrition.
caffeine is only mechanism behind
While the association was greatest
coffees health effects is supported
for caffeinated varieties, decaf
by a small study of 554 Japanese
made a small but significant showadults from October that looked
ing. A meta-analysis of 16 indeat coffee and green tea drinking
pendent studies this past January
habits in relation to the bundle
added endometrial cancer to the
of risk factors for coronary artery
group of cancers whose relative
disease, stroke, and type 2 diabetes
risk decreases with increased dosknown together as metabolic
age of coffee. And in 2011, a large
syndrome. Only coffee not tea
population of post-menopausal
was associated with reduced
women in Sweden saw a modest
risk, mostly because of dramatic
reduction in breast cancer risk
reductions observed in serum
with immoderate consumption
triglyceride levels. So aside from
of 5 or more daily cups. Taking
caffeine, just what are you getting
the benefits of coffee any further
in a cup, or two, or six? Thousands
requires being patient-specific, but
of mostly understudied chemifindings apply to a broad range of
cals that contribute to flavor and
populations and conditions:
aroma, including plant phenols,
If you have fatty liver disease, a
chlorogenic acids, and quinides,
study from last December found

that unspecified amounts can

reduce your risk of fibrosis.

If youre on a road trip, you

may respond like the 24 volunteers for an experiment from
February who were subjected
to two hours of simulated
monotonous highway driving, given a short break, then
sent back out for two more
hours. Those given a cup of
coffee during the break weaved
less, and showed reductions in
driving speed, mental effort,
and subjective sleepiness. If
youre on a weight-training
regimen, it can provide a mild
(and legal) doping effect.

If youre trying to enhance

your workout, the results of one
experiment from October found
that drinks containing caffeine
enhances performance. And then
another one from Dr. Martin
in 2008: He coauthored a study
of people enrolled in Alcoholics Anonymous in which there
appeared to be an association
between upping coffee intake and
staying sober.
Nothing can be all good, and
there is still information working
against coffee in October, The
Atlantic reported on a study from
the health professionals cohort
that suggested a link between
excessive coffee consumption and
glaucoma. The current recommendation is that if somebodys
not drinking coffee, you dont tell
them to start, said Bhupathiraju.
But she agrees that drinking
coffee, and more of it, does appear
to be beneficial. The evidence remains overwhelmingly in coffees
favor. Yes, it was observational,
but the study published in May
in the New England Journal of
Medicine looked at hundreds of
thousands of men and women and
found this bottom line result: people who drank coffee lived longer
than those who didnt.
And the more they drank, the
longer they lived. If youre into
that sort of thing.

J U N E 2014 HEALTH

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