Evidence Based Information About The Health Benefits Of Coffee

[ezralimm]

I hope this thread could be pinned. Whenever anyone comes across credible information about the health benefits of coffee, do post a brief summary in this thread.

26th March 2010: Kempf K, Herder C, Erlund I, et al. Effects of coffee consumption on subclinical inflammation and other risk factors for type 2 diabetes: a clinical trial. Am J Clin Nutr 2010; 91:950-957. Summary from Medscape CME.

For 1 month, 47 habitual coffee drinkers abstained from coffee drinking. In the second month, these participants drank 4 cups of filtered coffee daily (150 mL/cup) and in the third month, 8 cups of filtered coffee daily.

• Improves lipid profile: Higher HDL:LDL ratio.
• Decreases inflammatory markers: 8-isoprostane (a marker of oxidative stress) by 16%, and interleukin-8 levels by 8% (IL8 is a component of the innate immune response)
• Increases adiponectin levels by 6%: Suppresses metabolic syndrome and type 2 diabetes.

[aidan]

Re: Evidence Based Information About The Health Benefits Of Coffee

Wow that is suprising news. In the health community coffee is perceived as poisonous by many. Its good to see that there is some benefits. I guess with any thing moderation is the key. That being said i wonder what a "healthy" dose of daily coffee is..

[GregWormald]

Re: Evidence Based Information About The Health Benefits Of Coffee

Here are two of my favourite sites for medical and coffee info, Google found plenty more. "Google is your friend".

WebMD has a special article on the health benefits of coffee, and more individual papers referenced. http://men.webmd.com/features/coffee-new-health-food

The Coffee Science Information Centre http://www.cosic.org/ is a clearing house for this sort of data.

Greg

[Justin_Boyle]

Re: Evidence Based Information About The Health Benefits Of Coffee

I think all of us at some stage have felt some of the adverse effects of coffee so for us to grasp and the minute amount of medical information out there that argues it is beneficial would be crazy.

I know someone that used to drink large amounts of coke each day. When he retired he was no longer walking across to the cornerstore every few hours and decided he was going to drink less coke. A short while later he was experiencing head aches and it got to the extent that he was passing out and collapsing. He went to the doctor and found there was large amounts of fluid build up in his head causing the headaches and blacking out. The doctor gave him tablets to reduce the fluid. After a while of that he decided to drink coke again and voila problem solved.

Im sure there are many ways to justify your caffeine intake but lets not forget the KNOWN problems that it causes.

Justin

[GregWormald]

Re: Evidence Based Information About The Health Benefits Of Coffee

Justin,

The general thoughts about coffee are changing--I suggest some reading on the recent research may help you balance your thoughts. Note that most studies are on relatively small amounts--the max dose I have seen studied is 6 cups/day.

It also seems that there is something in the anti-oxidants in coffee that change the effects over caffeine by itself or over-doses of caffeine and sugar, such a cola drinks.

If you have recent studies showing negative effects Id be happy to see them posted as well.

Greg

[Justin_Boyle]

Re: Evidence Based Information About The Health Benefits Of Coffee

I dont know a lot about it but 2 things come to mind,

1) insomnia
2) heart palpatations

[aidan]

Re: Evidence Based Information About The Health Benefits Of Coffee

I personally get more paranoid when I drink high amounts .

[russellb]

Re: Evidence Based Information About The Health Benefits Of Coffee

Re palpitations:

See http://www.theheart.org/article/1053681.do

This suggests that documented cardiac arrhythmia is actually less frequent in coffee drinkers.

Note that "palpitations" are not the same as arrhythmia, and I suspect that people who are not habituated to coffee may be conscious of their heartbeat (=palpitations) after coffee intake, while in normal rhythm and with normal blood pressure.

On another note see

http://www.sciencenews.org/view/generic/id/56701/title/Coffee_associated_with_lower_stroke_risk


Russell

[aidan]

Re: Evidence Based Information About The Health Benefits Of Coffee

The age old moderation rings true with coffee. With moderation being around 2-3 cups a day. There is always weakies out there that react to coffee or any other stimulants.

Last year I stopped drinking coffee for 3 months and went vegan for a while. I lost a lot of mass and now really skinny. I now eat a combination of foods including coffee but focus to eat mostly whole foods, whilst keeping conscious not to over indulge in sugar/hiGI carbs, salt and saturated fats.

For some reason its actually easier to go nazi and become totally raw vegan because you dont have to worry about balancing to "good""Bad" foods.

Anyway off on a tangent.. Have to say YaY more good news for coffee drinkers. It does get me thinking though where do vegan hippies get conclusions that coffee is evil. Natural-paths are mostly haters of it.

[ezralimm]

Re: Evidence Based Information About The Health Benefits Of Coffee

Here are two of my favourite sites for medical and coffee info, Google found plenty more. "Google is your friend".

WebMD has a special article on the health benefits of coffee, and more individual papers referenced. http://men.webmd.com/features/coffee-new-health-food

The Coffee Science Information Centre http://www.cosic.org/ is a clearing house for this sort of data.

Greg

Justin,

The general thoughts about coffee are changing--I suggest some reading on the recent research may help you balance your thoughts. Note that most studies are on relatively small amounts--the max dose I have seen studied is 6 cups/day.

It also seems that there is something in the anti-oxidants in coffee that change the effects over caffeine by itself or over-doses of caffeine and sugar, such a cola drinks.

If you have recent studies showing negative effects Id be happy to see them posted as well.

Greg

The cosix site is really awesome and has well researched articles, though it may be a bit biased considering who is behind it - coffee vendors across europe.

yeah, I think we should look at the NEGATIVE effects of coffee as well.

[blanyon]

Re: Evidence Based Information About The Health Benefits Of Coffee

yeah, I think we should look at the NEGATIVE effects of coffee as well.

Its an expensive hobby ;D