Where The Holistic Rubber Meets The Scientific Road

Mental and Medical Benefits Of Coffee – part 2

But That’s Not All…

(part 1 of this article is here if you missed it…)

Coffee and hot tea consumption were found to be protective against methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA).[35] While it remains unclear whether the beverages have systemic antimicrobial activity, study participants who reported any consumption of either were approximately half as likely to have MRSA in their nasal passages.

The Downside

I already mentioned the negative effect on blood pressure and Huntington’s chorea.

There are more negatives, notably the tendency of caffeine to cause or worsen anxiety, insomnia, and tremor and potentially elevate glaucoma risk.[38]

Also, given the potential severity of symptoms, caffeine withdrawal syndrome is under consideration for inclusion in the forthcoming DSM-5.[39]

Am I Saying Start Drinking Coffee?

Not really. If you don’t drink coffee, this is not an inducement to start.

But if you do, then maybe that second cup isn’t so naughty after all.

Just remember, these tests are for COFFEE alone (dark espresso), not lattes, mochas, cappuccino and all the other drinks with gooey syrup, sugar, milk etc. Those are BAD and are not exonerated by this science.

Also remember It’s the antioxidants in the roasted and fermented bean, not the caffeine. No-one has produced evidence to my knowledge that caffeine by itself does all those good things!

References

1. Freedman ND, Park Y, Abnet CC, et al. Association of coffee drinking with total and cause-specific mortality. N Engl J Med. 2012;366:1891-1904.
2. Larsson SC, Orsini N. Coffee consumption and risk of stroke: a dose-response meta-analysis of prospective studies. Am J Epidemiol. 2011;174:993-1001.
3. Wu JN, Ho SC, Zhou C, et al. Coffee consumption and risk of coronary heart diseases: a meta-analysis of 21 prospective cohort studies. Int J Cardiol. 2009;137:216-225.
4. Natella F, Nardini M, Belelli F, et al. Coffee drinking induces incorporation of phenolic acids into LDL and increases the resistance of LDL to ex vivo oxidation in humans. Am J Clin Nutr. 2007;86:604-609.
5. Gómez-Ruiz JA, Leake DS, Ames JM. In vitro antioxidant activity of coffee compounds and their metabolites. J Agric Food Chem. 2007;55:6962-6969.
6. Nardini M, D’Aquino M, Tomassi G, et al. Inhibition of human low-density lipoprotein oxidation by caffeic acid and other hydroxycinnamic acid derivatives. Free Radic Biol Med. 1995;19:541-552.
7. Montagnana M, Favaloro EJ, Lippi G. Coffee intake and cardiovascular disease: virtue does not take center stage. Semin Thromb Hemost. 2012;38:164-177.
8. Mostofsky E, Rice MS, Levitan EB, Mittleman MA. Habitual coffee consumption and risk of heart failure: a dose–response meta-analysis. Circ Heart Fail. 2012;DOI:10.1161/CIRCHEARTFAILURE.112.967299. http://circheartfailure.ahajournals.org
9. Larsson SC, Orsini N. Coffee consumption and risk of stroke: a dose-response meta-analysis of prospective studies. Am J Epidemiol. 2011;174:993-1001.
10. Larsson SC, Virtamo J, Wolk A. Coffee consumption and risk of stroke in women. Stroke. 2011;42:908-912.
11. D’Elia L, Cairella G, Garbagnati F, et al. Moderate coffee consumption is associated with lower risk of stroke: meta-analysis of prospective studies. J Hypertension. 2012;30 (e-Supplement A):e107.
12. Huxley R, Lee CM, Barzi F, et al. Coffee, decaffeinated coffee, and tea consumption in relation to incident type 2 diabetes mellitus: a systematic review with meta-analysis. Arch Intern Med. 2009;169:2053-2063.
13. Sartorelli DS, Fagherazzi G, Balkau B, et al. Differential effects of coffee on the risk of type 2 diabetes according to meal consumption in a French cohort of women: the E3N/EPIC cohort study. Am J Clin Nutr. 2010;91:1002-112.
14. Floegel A, Pischon T, Bermann MM, et al. Coffee consumption and risk of chronic disease in the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition (EPIC)–Germany study. Am J Clin Nutr. 2012;95:901-908.
15. Vinson JA, Burnham B, Nagendran MV, et al. Randomized double-blind placebo-controlled crossover study to evaluate the efficacy and safety of a green coffee bean extract in overweight subjects. Program and abstracts of the 243rd American Chemical Society National Meeting and Exposition; March 25-29, 2012; San Diego, California. Abstract 92.
16. Je Y, Hankison SE, Tworoger SS, et al. A prospective cohort study of coffee consumption and risk of endometrial cancer over a 26-year follow-up. Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev. 2011;20:1-9.
17. Wilson KM, Kasperzyk JL, Rider JR, et al. Coffee consumption and prostate cancer risk and progression in the Health Professionals Follow-up Study. J Natl Cancer Inst. 2011;8;103:876-884.
18. Turati F, Galeone C, La Vecchia C, et al. Coffee and cancers of the upper digestive and respiratory tracts: meta-analyses of observational studies. Ann Oncol. 2011;22:536-544.
19. Galeone C, Tavani A, Pelucchi C, et al. Coffee and tea intake and risk of head and neck cancer: pooled analysis in the international head and neck cancer epidemiology consortium. Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev. 2010;19:1723-1736.
20. Song F, Qureshi AA, Han J. Increased caffeine intake is associated with reduced risk of Basal cell carcinoma of the skin. Cancer Res. 2012;72:3282-3289.
21. Li J, Seibold P, Chang-Claude J, et al. Coffee consumption modifies risk of estrogen-receptor negative breast cancer. Breast Cancer Res. 2011;13:R49.
22. Cao C, Loewenstein DA, Lin X, et al. High blood caffeine levels in MCI linked to lack of progression to dementia. J Alzheimer Dis. 2012;30:559-572.
23. Hamza TH, Chen H, Hill-Burns EM, et al. Genome-wide gene-environment study identifies glutamate receptor gene GRIN2A as a Parkinson’s disease modifier gene via interaction with coffee. PLoS Genet. 2011;7: e1002237.
24. Ross W, Duda J, Abbott R, et al. Association of coffee caffeine consumption with brain Lewy pathology in the Honolulu-Asia Aging Study. Program and abstracts of the 64th Annual Meeting of the American Academy of Neurology; April 21-28, 2012; New Orleans, Louisiana. Abstract #S42.005.
25. Duru C. Caffeine is a modifier of age at onset in Huntington’s disease. Program and abstracts of the 15th International Congress of Parkinson’s Disease and Movement Disorders; June 5-9, 2011; Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Abstract 180.
26. Lucas M, Mirzaei F, Pan A, et al. Coffee, caffeine, and risk of depression among women. Arch Intern Med. 2011;171:1571-1578.
27. Pasco JA, Nicholson GC, Williams LJ, et al. Association of high-sensitivity C-reactive protein with de novo major depression. Br J Psychiatry. 2010;197:372-377.
28. Ng F, Berk M, Dean O, Bush AI. Oxidative stress in psychiatric disorders: evidence base and therapeutic implications. Int J Neuropsychopharmacol. 2008;11:851-876. Abstract
29. O’Connor A. Coffee drinking linked to less depression in women. New York Times. February 13, 2012. http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/09/26/coffee-drinking-linked-to-less-depression-in-women/ Accessed January 11, 2012.
30. Molloy JW, Calcagno CJ, Williams CD, Jones FJ, Torres DM, Harrison SA. Association of coffee and caffeine consumption with fatty liver disease, nonalcoholic steatohepatitis, and degree of hepatic fibrosis. Hepatology. 2012;55:429-436.
31. Gallus S, Tavani A, Negri E, La Vecchia C. Does coffee protect against liver cirrhosis? Ann Epidemiol. 2002;12:202-205.
32. Molloy JW, Calcagno CJ, Williams CD, et al. Association of coffee and caffeine consumption with fatty liver disease, nonalcoholic steatohepatitis, and degree of hepatic fibrosis. Hepatology. 2012;55:429-436.
33. Modi AA, Feld JJ, Park Y, et al. Increased caffeine consumption is associated with reduced hepatic fibrosis. Hepatology. 2010;51:201-209.
34. Birerdinc A, Stepanova M, Pawloski L, Younossi M. Caffeine is protective in patients with non-alcoholic fatty liver disease. Aliment Pharmacol Ther. 2012;3576-82.
35. Matheson EM, Mainous AG, Everett CJ, King DE. Tea and coffee consumption and MRSA nasal carriage. Ann Fam Med. 2011;9:299-304.
36. Pasquale L. Program and abstracts of the American Glaucoma Society 22nd Annual Meeting; March 1-4, 2012; New York, New York. Abstracts 23 and 83.
Compton WM, Budney AJ, Hasin D. New approaches to substance and related diagnoses in the DSM-5. Program and abstracts of the American Academy of Addiction Psychiatry (AAAP) 22nd Annual Meeting and Symposium; December 8-11, 2011; Scottsdale, Arizona. Workshop B2. Presented December 9, 2011.

1 COMMENT

  1. Greetings Dr. Keith,
    The most important bit of info about coffee that I’ve come across is that coffee should be drunk within 10 minutes. After that, poisons start to form — I do not remember what these poisons are. I got this info from my friend Sequoyah Trueblood (http://www.f4gh.org/sequoyah-trueblood), who learned it from the ancient tribes who live on the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta mountains in Columbia.
    I’ve certainly noticed that if I drink Espresso or Cappuccino, I feel fine and don’t get into coffee allergy, which I’ve had in the past. And I know others who can drink only Espresso or others still who can only drink Turkish Coffee.
    So there does seem to be a delicate balance that we need to pay attention to. And it varies for different people.
    Pamela

Comments are closed.

MOST POPULAR ARTICLES

Most Trending Articles

Related Articles