Coffee and health

[Pedaling Fool]

Don't drink coffee if you don't want a brain aneurysm or drink coffee if you don't want a deadly form of prostate cancer.

Personally, I don't put much faith into all these studies. And another factor they didn't mention here in this article is the importance of exercise, but that was a major factor when I first heard this story on the news.

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-0...tudy-says.html

Prostate Cancer Risk May Be Reduced by Drinking Coffee, Harvard Study Says


Drinking coffee, regular or decaffeinated, may reduce the risk of prostate cancer, according to a study by Harvard University researchers.
The study found that men who consumed six or more cups of coffee a day had a 60 percent lower risk of developing deadly metastatic prostate cancer and a 20 percent reduced risk of developing any form of the disease. One to three cups cut the risk of lethal prostate cancer by 30 percent. The findings, published today in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute, suggest non-caffeine elements in coffee may provide the benefit.

Prostate cancer is the second-leading cause of cancer death in U.S. men and affects one in six men during their lifetime, according to the American Cancer Society. Researchers from Harvard’s School of Public Health said they chose to study coffee because research has shown it’s a source of antioxidants, which may be useful in reducing prostate cancer risk.

“What we’re discovering is there are potentially modifiable lifestyle factors that men can do to lower their risk of lethal prostate cancer,” said Lorelei Mucci, an associate professor of epidemiology at Harvard University School of Public Health in Boston and the study’s senior author, in a May 13 telephone interview. “It doesn’t seem like caffeine is the component of coffee that’s associated with this lower risk.”

Coffee has been linked in studies to a lower risk of Parkinson’s disease, type 2 diabetes, liver cancer, cirrhosis and gallstone disease, the authors said. It also contains compounds that can reduce inflammation and regulate insulin.
Men’s Health Study

The researchers looked at the records of 47,911 U.S. men in the Health Professionals Follow-Up study who reported how much coffee they drank every four years from 1986 to 2008. The Health Professionals Follow-Up Study, sponsored by Harvard and started in 1986, is designed to evaluate men’s health by relating nutritional factors to serious illness such as cancer and heart disease. Among the 5,035 cases of prostate cancer reported in the study, 642 were cases in which the cancer was fatal or spread beyond the prostate.

Recent studies also suggest coffee may have harmful effects. One by Belgium researchers earlier this month found it may increase the risk of deadly strokes in people with brain aneurysms. A British study last year found an association between the caffeine in coffee and miscarriages and stillbirths later in pregnancy.

“The wrong take-home message is drink more coffee and you won’t get prostate cancer,” said Ian Thompson, director of the Cancer Therapy & Research Center and a professor in the Department of Urology at the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio. Similar studies finding links between reduced prostate cancer risk and vitamin E or selenium haven’t panned out, he said.
More Studies Needed

“It’s an interesting observation,” Thompson said in a May 16 interview. “The proper result for this would be for folks in the drug discovery business to look at coffee to see if there may be something drugable.”
The authors said they are planning more studies to understand what in coffee may actually lower the risk of lethal prostate cancer.
Today’s study was funded in part by the U.S. National Institutes of Health and the Prostate Cancer Foundation.

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And this link has a video that shows a report that said coffee was linked to increased chances of prostate cancer http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/43065205/ns/health-cancer/




Funny stuff

[Deadeye]

Drink coffee if you like coffee. Something will kill you eventually.

[Jonnycat]

...six or more cups of coffee a day....

I don't think my half a mug in the morning is going to be helping me much. I sure do like it, though.

[10-K]

Drink coffee if you like coffee. Something will kill you eventually.

+1

We're all going to die of something and I think a persons' genetics has more to do with the when and how of dying that if you drink coffee, eat blueberries, take vitamins or whatever.

Best you can do is take care of yourself... exercise, all things in moderation, be nice to people and keep a good sense of humor. You may not live forever but it's a good recipe for happiness.

[max patch]

Coffee is funny. One year it will kill you. The next year it will help you live longer.

[jbwood5]

That is so ridiculous. 6 or more cups a day would probably kill me or I would definitely never sleep. I drink 1 or 2 cups on a normal work day and try to wean myself off of it when I hike. Why? ... it takes fuel to heat the water to make coffee, it takes precious water, and you pee more causing you to consume even more precious water. Usually by the 2nd and 3rd day of a new hike, I suffer from headaches, but by the 4th or 5th day they are gone and I don't need anymore coffee. Then when I go back to work, the cycle starts all over again.

I usually feel better being off coffee.... but then again it is probably because I'm on the trail and not in the office.

[Doc Mike]

+1


Best you can do is take care of yourself... exercise, all things in moderation, be nice to people and keep a good sense of humor. You may not live forever but it's a good recipe for happiness.

+1 this is so true. moderation is the key in most things

[Old Hiker]

"Don't drink coffee if you don't want a brain aneurysm or drink coffee if you don't want a deadly form of prostate cancer."


"Coffee is funny. One year it will kill you. The next year it will help you live longer."

I think I'll drink the coffee. If I have an aneurysm, I won't be able to remember I have the cancer. Plus, I wish they'd tell us which year is which. I could stop drinking coffee in the years it'll kill you and drink it again the next year when it won't.

Anyone ask Juan Valdez about this??

[Deadeye]

Coffee is funny. One year it will kill you. The next year it will help you live longer.

works even better the other way around

[brian039]

As always with these types of studies, correlation is not causation. Leave it to the media to sensationalize the whole thing too and get everything and everybody confused. Sometimes these studies are a big waste of time and money, this one being a good example. I mean, this is Harvard, can't they come up with a better study?

[Old Boots]

Hey, it's supposed to be all over by Saturday anyway so why worry.

[Old Hiker]

Hey, it's supposed to be all over by Saturday anyway so why worry.

And if not Saturday, by Dec 2012 at the latest!

[Dogwood]

Coffee is funny. One year it will kill you. The next year it will help you live longer. - Max patch

What's not funny is how information is translated and how some information isn't translated at all.

....correlation is not causation. -Brian039

Ditto. Thank you!

I also am skeptical when a study is conducted on certain ingredients in a product, isolated from that product, and, then, the possible attributes of those ingredients are accessed to the entire product!

Who knew? Coffee the latest health craze product! I'll drink it with my acai berries and cottage cheese or yogurt in the morn.

Remember that marketing approach by one of the leading yogurt companies, some years ago, where they had these elderly people jump up and dance around on tops of tables supposedly living longer due in some part to yogurt?

Hummm?

[Dogwood]

Drink coffee if you like coffee. Something will kill you eventually.

With that mindset should I also be crossing the highway without making myself aware if any vehicles are zooming along crossing my path? I am going to die of something anyway. Right?

[Pedaling Fool]

That is so ridiculous. 6 or more cups a day would probably kill me or I would definitely never sleep. I drink 1 or 2 cups on a normal work day and try to wean myself off of it when I hike. Why? ... it takes fuel to heat the water to make coffee, it takes precious water, and you pee more causing you to consume even more precious water. Usually by the 2nd and 3rd day of a new hike, I suffer from headaches, but by the 4th or 5th day they are gone and I don't need anymore coffee. Then when I go back to work, the cycle starts all over again.

I usually feel better being off coffee.... but then again it is probably because I'm on the trail and not in the office.

It just so happens that that's about the amount I drink every morning. BTW, six cups is only 2-1/2 of my cups, which are not giant cups, but I do fill the water in the pot to the 6-cup line.

I don't pee anymore when I drink that much coffee as opposed to a similar amount of water. I don't get headaches when I go without coffee, which I usually do when I got something to do very early in the morning or when I go on a hike it's a 50/50 chance if I have coffee packed.

I also don't have a dehydration issue, as I've heard some claim. I'm generally in the camp with everyone that says, "all in moderation", but keep in mind that's somewhat a relative comment. I believe 6 cups is a moderate amount for me, but then again I'm very active, do a lot of running, weightlifting and cycle about 20-30 miles per day(primary form of transportation).

I really believe exercise (all different types) is vital to keeping the body strong and resistant to sickness and a sensible diet, but I don't do all the latest trends; with respect to diet I believe the most important thing is NOT to over eat, and everyone does it, that's the problem along with lack of exercise.

[Pedaling Fool]

BTW, I forgot to mention that I believe I drink more water than the average American. I reach for a glass of water when most reach for a soda or a sport drinnk or sweet tea... I've noticed that for years, not sure how that factors in, but I think that counts for something.

[Pedaling Fool]

Drink coffee if you like coffee. Something will kill you eventually.

With that mindset should I also be crossing the highway without making myself aware if any vehicles are zooming along crossing my path? I am going to die of something anyway. Right?

I think he was just expressing his frustration with all these conflicting studies.

[hikerboy57]

Iaccept that sooner or later , I will die from something. I love my morning coffee. Should I die from too much coffee, Ill die happy!(and wide awake).

[hikerhobs]

drink coffee if you like coffee. Something will kill you eventually.

good point.......

[WingedMonkey]

Since so many coffee drinkers also smoke any study would have to take all those deaths into account.