Java Talk

Java Talk

Is coffee really that bad for me? By Dr. Brian Hester T wo stats that have nothing to do with each other but are equally surprising to me:

On average, more than 10 people are killed per year by a vending machine and 63% of Americans drink at least one cup of coff ee per day, according to a 2015 Gallup Poll.

While the former is just weird to think about, the latter is pretty eye opening. Th e lives of the participants. Smoking, activity same study that gave us that factoid tells us level, overall health, family history—they that while those 63% are drinking at least one never entered into the data. So, as you can cup per day, on average they’re drinking 2.7 imagine, those are pretty big things to ignore cups daily! Th at’s a lotta beans! If we’re takand didn’t give impartial results. ing this much of something into our body, it’s defi nitely worth a look as to whether or Benefi ts of coffee not it’s doing us any good—or worse, causing Time Magazine did a really good piece on any damage. some of the reasons why it could actually be a

For years, we’ve been told that coff ee stunts good idea to jump on the coff ee bandwagon. growth, causes ulcers, and causes addiction to So, let’s take a look at some of the possible caff eine. Study aft er study gave us hard facts benefi ts to drinking coff ee: lower risk of deto back that up, and doctors spouted them in veloping type-2 diabetes due to the way cofjust about any article you would fi nd about fee aff ects our hormones and metabolism. the eff ects of coff ee for the last 50 years. But Lower risk of heart disease and stroke: coff ee that hasn’t stopped people from drinking it. keeps blood vessels fl exible and healthy. Anti

As it turns out, those studies don’t really oxidants in coff ee can help fi ght and prevent hold up. Th ey studied the health of coff ee cancer. Anti-infl ammatory: not just needed drinkers versus noncoff ee drinkers, and those when you sprain an ankle, but reducing your who didn’t partake in the cups of joe always infl ammation is something we talk a lot about seemed to come out on top. But most of the around here and is hugely benefi cial for your studies didn’t look at any other factors in the overall health. So, while I’m not going to go into a full thesis on how the only thing you should ever drink is coffee because of its many, many health benefi ts, we can probably loosen the reins on the thought that coff ee, in and of itself, can be the diff erence between an early death and living until you’re 134.

Drawbacks of coffee

It’s not, however, all rainbows and unicorns when it comes to drinking coff ee. Th e caffeine in coffee (or anything else caffeinated) can cause your heart to race, negatively aff ects your sleep pattern, and even causes spikes in blood pressure. Truthfully, if you look for it, you can fi nd a whole host of negative side eff ects that can seem pretty scary: bladder cancer, pancreatic cancer, esophageal cancer, basically cancer in general. But most of the research done linking these to coff ee consumption has been debunked and is seen as very outdated.

Something to note: Th at fi rst list of side eff ects is consistently linked to people who drink more than six cups of coff ee a day, every day. But, like anything, there is defi nitely such a thing as too much of a good thing. Are oranges good for you? Yup! Lots of great vitamin C. Should you drink six cups of OJ every day for your entire life? No way! Th at would overload your system and give you one heck of a stomachache. My fi nal recommendations

If you’re not a coff ee drinker, I’m not sure the health benefi ts are so overwhelming that you should start the habit. If you’re already drinking coff ee, pay attention to how it makes you feel. Does it make you jittery? Are you having trouble sleeping if you drink a cup aft er 5 p.m.? Th en play around with it to see if you can cut back. Lastly, water, water, water, water. Coff ee cannot be your source of hydration (because it will do the opposite), and you should still be drinking enough water daily that your urine is clear to lightly pale yellow.

And, for Heaven’s sake, don’t drink more than six cups of coff ee in a day.

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