20 December 2007 by Shifrah Combiths
Your Coffee and Your Health
Chances are, if you’re a regular coffee drinker, someone somewhere has chastised you for drinking it. And although you may have waved off their concerns for your health or their derision at your “drug addition,” you may still harbor some subterranean doubt about coffee’s effect on your health or some barely-there guilt at your indulgence in the drink that gives you so many moments of warm comfort. How does setting the record straight once and for all sound?
Let’s get the bad news over with first. Caffeine is, in all honesty, a “mild addictive stimulant,” as one Harvard Health publication calls it. As such, it can affect cardiovascular functions by causing increased blood pressure and heart rate, and sometimes even an irregular heartbeat – all certainly factors to consider, particularly if you’re an at-risk individual in these areas. Most coffee drinkers have probably experienced jitteriness or shaky fingers at some point, an undeniable physical manifestation of coffee’s stimulant properties.
Another pretty obvious fallout of drinking coffee is yellowed teeth. Merely cosmetic and often reversible given the right treatment, this doesn’t dissuade many die-hard coffee lovers.
Studies that tested coffee’s effects on women’s health, particularly in the arenas of breast health, breast cancer, and osteoporosis are inconclusive. No evidence definitely links these, although no evidence conclusively absolves coffee of blame. There’s also no evidence to suggest that coffee contributes to indigestion, heart disease, or pancreatic or kidney cancer.
Here’s the good news: what studies have shown, overwhelmingly, is that coffee’s influence on our health and well-being is positive. Coffee consumption has been shown to lower the risk of Parkinson’s disease, colon cancer, diabetes, cavities, and – as we drinkers know – to elevate your mood and alleviate headaches.
These studies are certainly not scarce, and the lowered risks they demonstrate are far from infinitesimal. The 19,000 studies done in recent decades on the matter are summed up in the words of Tomas DePaulis, Ph.D., of Vanderbilt’s Institute for Coffee Studies: “Overall, the research shows that coffee is far more healthful than it is harmful. For most people, very little bad comes from drinking it, but a lot of good.” Regular coffee drinkers are about 80% less likely to develop Parkinson’s or cirrhosis of the liver, 25% less likely to develop colon cancer, and only half as likely to have gallstones (depending on the amount of consumption).
So what is it exactly about coffee that accounts for such benefits? A lot of the credit goes to the very component that is so derided – the caffeine. Based on findings from the coffee studies, drugs for Parkinson’s are now being developed with a derivative of caffeine. Trigonelline, the compound that accounts for coffee’s aroma and bitter flavor is said to be responsible for the antibacterial and anti-adhesive properties that help deter cavity formation. Coffee is also extremely high in anti-oxidants, whose benefits we are increasingly familiar with.
Moderate coffee consumption seems to be not only devoid of health risks, but actually full of health benefits. It’s probably best to keep consumption moderate, and heart patients, pregnant women, and those at risk for osteoporosis may still need to limit or avoid the beverage, but for most average Joes a cup of Joe is good for us. Here’s to health and coffee!