Perhaps It's Not So Bad After All! (Coffee in general)

Member Name: delawney

Product:	Coffee in general
Date:	29/06/03 (1302 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Yummy, Might be good for you after all!

Disadvantages: Does have some proven ill effects

Those of you who read my opinions regularly (thank you!) will probably know by now that I am somewhat the coffee fan. I cannot start the day without my ritual injection of coffee. That delicious, tich, black liquid - mmmmm.

Of course, I am well aware of all the health risks associated with coffee. During my student days I pretty much ignored them - I would quite happily sit drinking cafetiere after cafetiere full of rich, strong coffee delight whilst thumping my way through philosophy essays at the last minute as usual. As I got older, I became more sensible, and have tried to restrict myself to the recommended limit of three cups a day, save for special occasions ;)


*** So What Are The Potential Risks? ***

Don't expect me to get too technical here - I'm no expert!

Excessive coffee intake can increase the risk of heart disease as it constricts the arteries.

Drinking coffee during pregnancy (no worries there for delawney!) can increase the risk of birth defects.

Of course, those of us who drink coffee regularly also know that it can increase agitation, irritability, nervousness and can cause headaches.

Then again, those of us who are evidently addicted to caffiene also find that withdrawal can lead to all those effects too, especially headaches!


*** So What's the Good News? ***

Given all this, imagine my delight when a colleague at work presented me with a photocopy of an article from one of her dodgy womens' magazines detailing 20 good things about coffee. It turns out that it is not all doom and gloom for us coffee lovers.

*DISCLAIMER* I am not a health, nutrition, or medical expert. The points I am about to make below were taken from the magazine article, and I do not know their original source. Please don't take my word for it!

OK, formailities out of the way, what is the good news?

The first thing that surprised me is
that apparently coffee is no more diuretic (makes you wee) than water. As such it can actually be an important contributor to your daily fluid intake. I had always believed that drinking coffee had a negative effect on your fluid intake, and as such have always tried to alternate between coffee and a large glass of water. As it happens I don't intend to change that habit, but it's nice to think that just maybe the coffee drinking isn't having a negative effect on fluid intake.

Interestingly, the article claims that if someone with an aroused or alert brain drinks coffee, it won't have a stimulant effect on them, but will calm them down. This actually seems to confirm my own experience. When I get very stressed at work, I often reach for a good cup of coffee to help calm me down. I had always assumed this was a purely psychological reaction. Maybe it is, but this did get me thinking.

Not surprising, perhaps, is that studies have found that caffiene has a positive effect on energy and endurance. Students have known that for years, that's why they pop the pro plus pills! Similarly, coffee has been shown to be an effective performance enhancer, improving memory and energy levels for both physical and mental activities.

Apparently, having a strong cup of coffee may help hayfever symptoms and might also prevent severe allergic reactions. As far as hayfever is concerned, this is something else I can back up with my own experience - coffee definitely lessens the symptoms of my hayfever.

The article claims that a double expresso may improve a woman's (and presumably also a man's, but it didn't say!) tolerance to pain, e.g. leg waxing. I haven't ever tested this theory, but I don't have a problem with having my legs waxed and I do drink plenty of coffee, so maybe that's why! Similarly, caffeine can also speed up the painkilling powers of ibuprofen, and is included in some analgesic ta
blets. As an aside here, I do have to say that the one time I definitely avoid coffee (hard though it is) is when I am suffering from period pains, as it definitely makes them worse!

A study has shown that coffee could protect against suicidal depression. Again, as someone who has experienced depression (though by no means suicidal) I do not find this surprising. Howwever, I have to confess that I'd always put the improvement in my mood from drinking coffee down to my addiction rather than any potential benefits of the coffee itself.

So far, I would not describe any of these potential benefits of coffee as particularly controversial. However, some of the other claims of the article are far more dramatic, and I have to say I have much less personal experience to relate them to. For example (lifted directly from the article):

* Coffee drinkers have a reduced risk of type-2 diabetes, which usually occurs in later life;
* Women who drink four or more cups a day are less likely to develop Parkinson's disease;
* Coffee has a protective effect against cirrhosis of the liver, and drinking three or four cups a day is linked to an 80 per cent reduction in risk;
* Coffee has shown a protective effect against colon cancer. The risk is 24 per cent lower among those who drink four or more cups a day, than among those who rarely or never drink it;
* Tension headaches can be relieved by drinking caffeinated coffee;
* Smokers may reduce their risk of bladder cancer if they consume coffee as well. The effect of drinking coffee roughly halves the extra risk created by a nicotine habit;
* Drinking up to three cups of coffee a day can reduce the risk of developing Alzheimer's disease by as much as 60 per cent;
* Women coffee drinkers reduce their risk of kidney stones by 10 per cent. This confirms the results of an earlier study done on 45,000 men.
* There are four times more antioxidants found in coffee than
in green tea, and these mop up damaged body cells.

Most controversial, though, are three claims relating to heart disease and blood pressure, which do seem to fly in the face of conventional wisdom. These are:

* That regular coffee drinkers appear to be protected against an increase in blood pressure levels;
* That coffee may in fact have a protective effect on the heart. A Scottish study of over 10,000 people found that coffee drinkers had a significantly lower rate of heart disease than those who didn't drink coffee at all;
* The incidences of heart disease may be lower in coffee drinkers than tea (ugh) drinkers.

As someone who has very low blood pressure, I have certainly never found a problem with increased blood pressure from coffee drinking - but then, if it does raise your blood pressure, who knows how low mine might be without it!

My understanding is that stewed coffee (such as that sat in the jug on a coffee machine for hours) may be much worse for you than fresh or instant coffee, and that it can be the stewed coffee that has a detrimental effect on cholesterol levels and can contribute to heart disease. Whether coffee really does have a protective effect on the heart, I'm really not sure.

It is extremely important to limit your intake of coffee if you are pregnant or suffer from high blood pressure or insomnia. The Food Standards Agency says pregnant women should drink no more than four cups a day - exceeding this limit could lead to low birth weight babies or even miscarriage.

A small number of people (and boy oh boy does this include me) may experience mild, temporary effects of caffiene withdrawal - such as headache, fatigue or drowsiness. Apparently these should last no more than a day or two after stopping drinking coffee, but I've never stopped for that long so I cannot verify this!

Personally, I think the moral of this story is that like many health issues, the
re is very little that is downright good or downright bad for you, there are always shades of grey. If you ate nothing but carrots you could die of vitamin A poisoning after all. The lesson, surely, is to have a little bit of what you fancy, in moderation of course.

Right. I'm off to enjoy the steaming hot cup of black goodness mr delawney has kindly prepared for me. At least it should help keep my hayfever at bay ;)

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