Coffee A Health Drink?

Yocto Yotta wrote to mention an article from The Independent which would seem to indicate that coffee has numerous health benefits, and could be construed to be a 'health drink'. From the article: "'A study has found that coffee contributes more antioxidants - which have been linked with fighting heart disease and cancer - to the diet than cranberries, apples or tomatoes...[antioxidants in coffee] have been linked to a number of health benefits, including protection against heart disease and cancer. Studies have associated coffee drinking with a reduced risk of liver and colon cancer, type two diabetes, and Parkinson's disease.'"

Comments

Re:Didn't see that coming

[Anonymous Coward]

Espresso, not expresso.

Best antioxidants ! Don't trust vitamins !

[zymano]

I try and drink 2 glasses of Tea a day. Also try blueberries. Boysenberries taste great but aren't listed.

Oh yeah , Vitamins may not work and make corporations rich.
http://www.diet-blog.com/archives/2005/08/05/do_vi tamin_pills_really_work.php

List of most powerful antioxidant fruit and vegetable.
http://www.mdsupport.org/library/antiox.html

http://my.webmd.com/content/Article/104/107639.htm

http://altmedicine.about.com/cs/supplements/a/anti oxidants.htm

http://msnbc.msn.com/id/5489179/

Yes, coffee has anti-oxidants

[bahwi]

And if you REALLY want a health benefit, switch to decaf. Sorry, I know everyone wants to pretend what they do is fine or healthy and wants to find that reason why, but some things are just bad for you(Fast food for example, although we all eat it anyways). Just because coffee has anti-oxidants doesn't mean that it will prevent cancer. Caffeine is pro-inflammatory, so most likely those anti-oxidants will be reducing damage of the caffeine.

Don't wanna give up caffeine? No problem. Still want to reduce your risk of cancer, have some real food. Steam some kale, have an apple, some berries(Not Apple-Berry Poptarts, not the same thing). Just add a few veggies or fruits to your daily food intake and you'll be a lot better for it. Cut something out, or reduce, and you'll be even better. Don't have to give up coffee/caffeine, but it isn't some miracle health food, and don't think of it as such.

Re:Health drink?

[DilbertLand]

Uh....a quick google search says that the LD50 of caffeine in rats is 192mg/kg...or about 15+ grams for a 180lb person......

Re:Yellow Teeth

[moro_666]

actually getting yellow teeth barely is any real concern for the health (it may look ugly but it doesnt kill you)

you should be althrough worried for the calcium levels that you affect with drinking coffee. in many studies coffee has been proved to be responsible for increasing calcium extraction from human body, therefor your teeth and bones will get weaker. this seems to be an individual dependant case however, not everybody is affected in the same range.

see this link

http://www.cosic.org/coffee-and-health/bone-health

drinking enough milk will compensate this anyway, so if you are a real caffeine addict, just make sure you drink enough milk to keep the bones&teeth healthy and wash your teeth enough to keep em white. this way you wont break your bones while raising the coffe cup and wont need to go to dentist after your cup has accidently collided with your teeth.

i love coffee, and there is nothing that keeps me from drinking it. concidering the chances that *vogon* ships may be out here by next thursday doesnt make really worried about the fact that my teeth may get yellow. (i dont like thursdays, seriously i dont like them!)

ps. people who drink caffeine coffee should have their head examined.

Re:Yellow Teeth

[garett_spencley]

I gave up coffee about a year ago for health reasons. Mostly because I have a history of heart disease and diabetis in my family. I don't honestly know if coffee will increase my risk of those, but I figured caffiene is still a stimulant, I'm addicted to it.. so lets cut it out of my diet just for the heck of it.

So this article isn't without a bit of irony :)

Anyway the other day I was going on 3 hours of sleep so I decided to make myself a cup a coffee and I became curious as to the calorie content of a cup of black coffee, assuming there are any calories in black coffee. I came across this page:

http://www.dietbites.com/CalorieIndexDrinks.html

I'm not sure how reliable it is... but it claims that coffee renders Vitamin B inactive. Not being a nutritionalist or a doctor I did a bit of research on what the B vitamins are good for and found out that they're pretty essential.

According to this page: http://home.howstuffworks.com/vitamin-b.htm

"The B-complex vitamins are actually a group of eight vitamins, which include thiamine (B1), riboflavin (B2), niacin (B3), pyridoxine (B6), folic acid (B9), cyanocobalamin (B12), pantothenic acid and biotin. These vitamins are essential for:

        * The breakdown of carbohydrates into glucose (this provides energy for the body)
        * The breakdown of fats and proteins (which aids the normal functioning of the nervous system)
        * Muscle tone in the stomach and intestinal tract
        * Skin
        * Hair
        * Eyes
        * Mouth
        * Liver"

So .. while the article may have some truth to it, it seems like it's a pretty big trade off. You gain some anti-oxidants but you lose your Vitamin B and Calcium absorption .. which really sucks.