1st Cup Of Coffee: Hardening Your Arteries

mikewhittaker writes "A recent article on The Times refer to a report which indicates that the intake of caffeine from a single coffee can have adverse effects on your arteries and heart." Actually, it goes so far to say that the first cup of coffee is the worst. Of course, basically, anything you do is bad for at some level, so I guess it's choosing your poisons.

Comments

Easy fix

[geophile]

So skip the first cup of coffee and go right to the second.

Glad I switched!

[pgpckt]

a single coffee can have adverse effects on your arteries and heart.

Whew. That was close. Glad I switched to espresso!

addictive qualities

[fetta]

It's easy to test out the health effects of caffeine - just give it up for a month.

Every 6 months or so, I quit caffeine cold turkey - no soda, no coffee, etc. The first 3-4 days are miserable - headaches, fatigue, etc. After that I start feeling much better, sleeping better, having more energy, etc. It's pretty clear that I feel better and healthier without that morning copy of coffee.

Of course, then some deadline pops up and I'm back to drinking 2 cups of coffee and a six pack of diet coke per day. What drives me nuts is that I know better - I've been through this cycle at least 5 times. Thanks God I never started smoking! If I have this much trouble giving up caffeine, I can't imagine what nicotine would do to me.

Shame

[mwillems]

It is rather a shame that society (North American society) is so obsessed now with risk aversion!

Everything we do has good and bad affects. Coffee makes you feel good but shortens life. Good choice for each to make. Wine lessens cardiovascular degeneration but increases the chance of liver ailments. Flying gets you tere quickly but you can fall. Peanuts are wholesome food but can kill one in a million. In the USA, only the negative part of each of these equations is being seen. Playgrounds have no swigs here anymore becuase they too can be dangerous.

Well, I for one will not worry. I make my own choices. I take calculated risks. I am aware that it all ends in tears anyway: no-one lives over 110 years and anyway, by 80, half of us have Alzheimers. Best enjoy the three score years and ten I'd say.

Would talk more but must be off for a coffee.

coffee quotes

[FarHat]

* Turkish Proverb: "Coffee should be black as hell, strong as death,
and sweet as love."
* Sheikh Abd-al-Kadir (1587): "No one can understand the truth until
he drinks of coffee's frothy goodness."
* Sir James MacKintosh (18th century philosopher): "The powers of a
man's mind are directly proportional to the quantity of coffee he
drank."
* Johann Sebastian Bach (1732, an aria from his 'Kaffee-Kantate'):
"Ah! How sweet coffee tastes! Lovlier than a thousand kisses,
sweeter than muscatel wine! I must have my coffee..."
* David Letterman (Esquire Interview Fall '94): "If it wasn't for
coffee, I'd have no discernible personality at all."
* Chris Egolf (1993): "This damn pot is too fucking slow!"
* Wise New York City Homeless Man (1996, to Chris Egolf): "Son, you
need to get some coffee in you so people know you're alive!"

Play: Caffiene and Quake

[leonbrooks]

Scene opens with a programmer at his keyboard, with adjacent coffee pot producing delicious, stimulating caffienated mud.

• Begin: 100 health
  
• Drink 1st coffee: 90 health
  
• Drink 2nd coffee: 80 health
  
• Drink 3rd coffee: 71 health (decimals omitted for simplicity)
  
• Drink 4th coffee: 62 health
  
• Drink 5th coffee: 53 health
  
• Drink 6th coffee: 44 health
  
• Drink 7th coffee: 35 health
  
• Drink 8th coffee: 26 health
  
• Drink 9th coffee: 17 health
  
• Drink 10th coffee: 8 health
  
• Drink 11th coffee: -1 health, get sideways view of the floor.

Drink up! Yippeee...! Er...

• Enter a tall, thin chap in a black cloak and bearing a huge white feather, who sets about banishing you to the IPT.

Scene closes with programmer's workmates, each with coffee in hand, shaking their heads sadly as paramedics bear away a sheet-covered object on a stretcher.

My point: less harmful is not the same as harmless.

misparsing?

[merlyn]

I had to read

the intake of caffeine from a single coffee can

three times before I figured out that it didn't mean "a coffee can", because I was trying to figure out how to drink from multiple cans instead.

deadly donut

[mudflat]

'The findings showed that the first cup had the most significant effect because caffeine levels in the blood had dropped during the night.'

There's a no-brainer. Drink a maintenance dose when you get up to pee in the middle of the night.

It's temporary, folks!

[steveha]

This is no big deal, unless you have high blood pressure, because the effect is very temporary. The article said "one cup hardened the blood vessels for at least two hours". It's not like you are going to need bypass surgery or something.

If you have average blood pressure, or (as I do) slightly low blood pressure, then have some coffee to celebrate the news!