SCAM OR NOT
Is Coffee Good for You?
Yes! But it
depends on the kind of coffee and the quantity.
By Dawn
MacKeen New York Times
We’ve come a long way from the cans of Folgers that filled our grandparents’ cupboards, with our oat milk lattes, cold brews and Frappuccino's. Some of us are still very utilitarian about the drink while others perform elaborate rituals. The fourth most popular beverage in the country, coffee is steeped into our culture. Just the right amount can improve our mood; too much may make us feel anxious and jittery.
Is coffee good
for me?
Yes.
In moderation,
coffee seems to be good for most people — that’s 3 to 5 cups daily, or up to
400 milligrams of caffeine.
“The evidence is
pretty consistent that coffee is associated with a lower risk of mortality,”
said Erikka Loftfield, a research fellow at the National Cancer Institute who
has studied the beverage.
For years, coffee
was believed to be a possible carcinogen, but the 2015 Dietary
Guidelines helped to change perception. For the first time, moderate
coffee drinking was included as part of a healthy diet. When researchers
controlled for lifestyle factors, like how many heavy coffee drinkers also
smoked, the data tipped in coffee’s favor.
A large 2017
review on coffee consumption and human health in the British Medical
Journal also found that most of the time, coffee was associated with
a benefit, rather than a harm. In examining more than 200 reviews of previous
studies, the authors observed that moderate coffee drinkers had less
cardiovascular disease, and premature death from all causes, including heart
attacks and stroke, than those skipping the beverage.
In addition,
experts say some of the strongest protective effects may be with Type 2
diabetes, Parkinson’s disease, and liver conditions such as cirrhosis, liver
cancer and chronic liver disease. For example, having about five cups of coffee
a day, instead of none, is correlated with a 30 percent decreased risk of Type
2 diabetes, according to a meta-analysis of 30 studies.
The potential
benefit from coffee might be from the polyphenols, which are plant compounds
that have antioxidant properties, according to Dr. Giuseppe Grosso, an
assistant professor in human nutrition at University of Catania in Italy and
the lead author of an umbrella review in the Annual Review of
Nutrition.
However, coffee isn’t for everyone. There are concerns about overconsumption. This is especially true for expecting mothers because the safety of caffeine during pregnancy is unclear. While the research into coffee’s impact on health is ongoing, most of the work in this field is observational.
“We don’t know
for sure if coffee is the cause of the health benefits,” said Jonathan
Fallowfield, a professor at the University of Edinburgh, and co-author of the
British Medical Journal review. “These findings could be due to other
factors or behaviors present in coffee drinkers.”
Does the way
coffee is prepared matter?
Yes. Do you
prefer a dark or light roast? Coarse grinding or fine? Arabica or robusta?
“All of these
different aspects affect the taste, but also affect the compounds within the
coffees,” said Neal Freedman, a senior investigator with the National Cancer
Institute. “But it’s not clear at all how these different levels of compounds
may be related to health.”
Roasting, for
example, reduces the amount of chlorogenic acids, but other antioxidant
compounds are formed. Espresso has the highest concentration of many compounds
because it has less water than drip coffee.
A study in
JAMA Internal Medicine examined the coffee habits of nearly 500,000 people in
the U.K. and found that it didn’t matter if they drank one cup or chain-drank
eight — regular or decaf — or whether they were fast metabolizers of coffee or
slow. They were linked to a lower risk of death from all causes, except with
instant coffee, the evidence was weaker.
The way you prepare your cup of joe may influence your cholesterol levels, too. “The one coffee we know not suitable to be drinking is the boiled coffee,” said Marilyn C. Cornelis, an assistant professor in preventive medicine at the Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine and co-author of the JAMA Internal Medicine study.
Examples of this
include the plunge-happy French press, Scandinavian coffee, or Greek and
Turkish coffee — the kind commonly consumed in the Middle East. (When poured,
the unfiltered grounds settle on the tiny cup’s bottom like sludge. To peek
into the future, elders in the region have a tradition of reading the sediment
of an overturned cup, like a crystal ball.)
However, the oil
in boiled coffee has cafestol and kahweol, compounds called
diterpenes. They are shown to raise LDL, the bad cholesterol, and slightly
lower HDL, what’s known as the good kind.
“If you filter
the coffee, then it’s no issue at all,” said Rob van Dam, a professor at Saw
Swee Hock School of Public Health at National University of Singapore. “For
people with cholesterol issues, it’s better to switch to other types of
coffee.” He’s been studying coffee for two decades. (And, yes, he’s had a lot
of coffee in that time.)
However, other
researchers say not to throw out the boiled coffee just yet. The clinical
significance of such small increases in cholesterol may be questionable, given
that it’s not associated with an increase in cardiovascular deaths.
Many consumers
have also swapped loose grounds for coffee pods. While there are environmental
concerns with single use pods, researchers believe them to hold the same
benefits as, say, drip coffee. The latter applies to cold brew, too, but more
research is needed.
Do all kinds of coffee have the same amount of caffeine?
No. Espresso has
the highest concentration of caffeine, packing about 70 milligrams into a
one-ounce shot, but is consumed in smaller quantities. By comparison, a typical
12-ounce serving of drip coffee has 200 milligrams of caffeine, more than
instant’s 140. And, yes, brewed decaf has caffeine, too — 8 milligrams — which
can add up.
When buying
coffee, you never really know what you’re going to get. At one Florida coffee
house, over a six-day period, the same 16-ounce breakfast
blend fluctuated from 259 milligrams all the way up to 564 — which goes
beyond federal recommendations.
But for some of
us, knowing how much caffeine is in our coffee can be especially important.
You’ve probably noticed it before. How a friend can pound quadruple espresso
shots at 10 p.m. and sleep afterward, while you can’t have any past noon, or
you’ll be watching “Seinfeld” reruns until dawn. Some of us have a
polymorphism, a genetic variant that slows our metabolism for caffeine. It’s
these individuals that Dr. Grosso recommends limit their refills. “They take a
coffee, and then they have the second and the third, and they still have the
caffeine of the first,” he said.
You can even find out whether you are a fast or slow metabolizer through a variety of direct-to-consumer testing services, including 23andMe.
Is coffee
addictive?
Evidence suggests
there can be a reliance on the drink, and tolerance builds over time.
Withdrawal symptoms include a headache, fatigue, irritability, difficulty
concentrating, and depressed mood.
Indeed, caffeine
is a psychoactive drug, and coffee is its biggest dietary source. About a
half-hour after sipping a cup of joe, the caffeine kicks in, and is quickly
absorbed. Blood vessels constrict. Blood pressure increases. A moderate amount
of caffeine can wake you up, boost your mood, energy, alertness, concentration
and even athletic performance. On average, it takes four to six hours to
metabolize half the caffeine.
For those
knocking back more than 400 milligrams of caffeine a day, there’s not enough
evidence to assess the safety, according to the Dietary Guidelines. Higher
doses can lead to caffeine intoxication, with its shakiness, nervousness,
and irregular heartbeat. Caffeine is also linked with delaying the
time it takes for you fall asleep, how long you stay there, and the reported
quality of that shut eye.
“I think that
caffeine is so common and so ingrained in our culture, and daily habits, that
we often don’t think about it as a potential source of problems,” said Mary M.
Sweeney, an assistant professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at the
Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine.
Cutting down coffee
may help with gastroesophageal reflux, too. A new study found that
women drinking caffeinated beverages — coffee, tea, or soda — were associated
with a small but increased risk of symptoms, like heartburn. The study’s
authors predicted fewer symptoms when substituting two servings of the drinks
with water.
Current available
research hasn’t determined what amount of caffeine can be safely consumed
during pregnancy, according to the American College of Obstetricians and
Gynecologists. Caffeine does cross the placenta so some doctors may recommend
pregnant women stay below 200 milligrams of coffee daily.
Extremely high doses of caffeine can be fatal. But researchers say that’s more likely to occur accidentally with caffeine powder or pills. “You don’t see a lot of people going into the emergency room because they accidentally drank too much coffee,” said Dr. van Dam.
What is a coffee
bean?
Inside the red
fruit of coffea lie two coffee beans. Green in color, the duo spoon
together, the rich brown hue to appear only after roasting. In fact, they
aren’t beans at all. “It’s like a cherry, you pick off the tree,” said Patrick
Brown, a professor of plant sciences at University of California, Davis. Unlike
the cherry, though, the seed is the prize, and the flesh is discarded.
In addition to
caffeine, coffee is a dark brew of a thousand chemical compounds that could
have potential therapeutic effects on the body. One key component, chlorogenic
acid, is a polyphenol found in many fruits and vegetables. Coffee is also a
good dietary source of vitamin B3, magnesium and potassium.
“People often see
coffee just as a vehicle for caffeine, but, of course, it’s a very complex
plant beverage,” said Dr. van Dam.
With coffea’s estimated
124 species, most of flavors remain untapped; and perhaps will be forever, with
an estimated 60 percent under threat of extinction, largely from climate
change, disease, pests and deforestation. What fills our mugs at cafes, the
office, and on road trips are from two species: arabica and canephora, known as
robusta. Arabica fills specialty cafes, and costs more than robusta, which
fuels instant coffees and some espressos.
For all of the pomp swirling around arabica, the fact remains it is an extremely homogeneous little seed. Almost all of the world’s arabica coffee progeny traces itself back a few plants from Ethiopia, coffee’s birthplace, or Yemen.
Does adding milk
or sugar cancel out benefits?
Doctors don’t
know. One 2015 study found that those adding sugar, cream or milk had
the same associated benefit as those who preferred it black. But the coffee
industry has exploded since the ’90s when the older adults in the study filled
out their dietary history. “It was only about a tablespoon of cream or milk,
and a teaspoon of sugar,” said the study’s lead author, Dr. Loftfield, with the
National Cancer Institute. “This is very different, potentially, than some of
these coffee beverages you see on the market today.”
Sweet coffee and
tea are the fourth largest source of sugar in the diets of adults, according to
the October survey from the U.S.D.A. That includes dessert-like beverages, like
Dunkin’ Donuts’ 860-calorie creamy frozen coconut caramel coffee drink, with 17
grams of saturated fat, and 129 grams of total sugars. Experts say some of
these drinks bear little relation to the 2-calorie cup of
black coffee of the past, worrying health officials.
“When you talk
about a drink that has that load of unhealthy fats and that much sugar, can’t
possibly be a healthy beverage on balance,” Dr. Jim Krieger, a clinical
professor of medicine and health services at the University of Washington.
“That amount of sugar alone is astronomical compared to the current
recommendations of U.S. Dietary Guidelines of 50 grams of sugar a day.”
The concern is
heightened, experts say, especially because an estimated 43 percent of teens
are now drinking coffee — nearly doubling since 2003 — according to the
research firm Kantar, driven partly by sweet drinks.
“People should
worry a lot about what they put in the coffee and what the food and beverage
industry puts in it,” said Laura Schmidt, a professor at the University of
California San Francisco School of Medicine. “And sweetened coffee is one of
the things that the beverage industry is pushing on the public now that
consumers have turned away from soda for health reasons.”
Should I start pounding down more coffee?
Depends on your
goals in life.
If you are enjoying the drink in moderation, doctors say continue onward, and savor those sips. And for those patients with a sensitivity to the beverage, Dr. Sophie Balzora, a gastroenterologist, weighs the benefits and risks very carefully. The clinical associate professor of medicine at N.Y.U. School of Medicine understands its cultural significance and knows to tread lightly. As she put it: “Robbing people of their coffee seems cruel.”