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.'"
Us seattlites really needed another reason to drink coffee.
Does this study factor in all the other ingredients that make up coffee? It doesn't do good to say it gives you a lot of anti-oxidents, while some other chemicals give you some bad benefits. Kind of cancelling out.
Well, study showed the same about alcohol.
It doesn't mean getting drunk every day is a healthy thing to do, as is maintaining a caffeïne addiction. Moderation in things is key I believe.
I just know that quitting the whole coffee-addiction had benefits for me personally.
I think we can keep recursing like this until someone returns 1
From the article:
But Professor Vinson urged moderation, recommending that people should drink only one or two cups of coffee per day.
A spokesman for the British Coffee Association said: "This study reconfirms the fact that moderate coffee consumption of four to five cups a day not only is perfectly safe but may confer health benefits."
A disconnect between science and industry if I ever I saw.
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."
The key bit here is "to the diet". This doesn't make coffee a health food, it means the collective we don't eat enough of the healthy stuff. Yet another misrepresentation of research and thanks to Slashdot for picking it up. I eagerly await the modded funny posts.
Feeling so good natured I could drool
The study was funded by the American Cocoa Research Institute. Make of that what you may.
Compared to a lot of the "alcohol is good for you" hype that I've seen, the article is actually pretty balanced. Still, this kind of thing makes me uncomfortable.
fish and pipes
Any substance that, when withdrwn from, gives you headaches, the sweats and severe drowsiness can be classified as a toxin to the body. Likewise, caffeine is habit-forming, intensifies feelings of anxiety, can produce insomnia, stains teeth etcetera.
SEO Copywriter. Just Say ON
That's okay, I'd rather forget things sitting on my couch than remember everything laying in an iron lung.
"I would say that 99 per cent of what my father has written about his own life is false." - L. Ron Hubbard Jr.
Switch to decaf?
Considering the amount of processing and chemicals they run through the bean to get the caffeine out, it is hardly a healthier substitute.
Having a food in moderation is not going to have a detrimental effect. Having a cup of coffee in the morning isnt going to give you a heart attack. Having 20 cups is not going to benefit you when your heart is pumping at twice the rate.
The key to personal health is moderation. In all forms. That includes exercise as well as eating.
The fact that Keith Richards is still alive after 40 years of heavy smoking, drinking and drug use, whereas people who take immaculate care of their health get cancer in their 30's and 40's has led me to conclude that most medical studies are bullshit and that your likelihood of contracting disease is about 95% genetics, 5% environment. Bah.
"College is purely a financial investment...pay X to get a return of Y. Don't expect to find wisdom there." -JK
The article doesn't quite say coffee is good for you. All it says is "Americans get more of their antioxidants from coffee than any other dietary source. Nothing else comes close," The real Slashdot headline should've been "Americans don't eat enough fruits/vegetables". but that wouldn't have been sensational enough.
Here in Nerf(tm) World we like to greatly exagerate risks that don't have to do with automobiles and deprecate the concordant benefits to the point of ignorance.
With regard to automobiles, of course, we do things the other way around, deprecating the risks and exagerating the benefits, which are mostly imagined in the first place.
KFG
>>Coffee is a naturally grown product, thus does not have bad influence on your body
... and coca... and various nightshades... and peyote... and psylocybine mushrooms... and fugu... and ... and...
Just like opium
Come off it, you fucking hippie. Just because it grows out of the ground doesn't make it not bad for you.
L
No, you are looking at that the wrong way. The coffee is what is keeping these incredibly unhealthy people in cubicles alive!
I didn't know there actually is people who believe that! I always thought it was a joke.
Mr. Cash202... Not everything which is naturally grown, is good for you. Most narcotic substances, for instance, are naturally grown. Alcohol, too. And formic acid (HCOOH). And amanita muscarita (also known as toadstool). Fat, my friend, is also grown naturally, but shouldn't be considered a very good diet.
Your body doesn't know whether a substance is natural or chemical. All chemical substances are natural as well - they're only made natural in a laboratory. They aren't supernatural. Your body is not tuned to eat every substance "out there".
Roses are #FF0000, violets are #0000FF, all my base are belong to you
What's more, it'd be less profitable. People are slowly becoming more aware of their health and healthy eating because it is a fact that people in rich countries are dying like flies from preventable illness like diabetes and cancer.
This means people are starting to avoid certain foods and drugs (bread, coffee, milk, antidepressants, sugar, chocolate) and go for other alternatives. Companies who produce these products are losing alot of money because their products are preceived as unhealthy or even dangerous by a more wary public.
The solution is to hire or at least nudge scentists to do research showing how healthy their products are.
Conflict of interests? I'll let you decide. Oh and by the way, Windows XP is more secure than UNIX - there're studies to prove it.
You guys are shameful... Haven't you ever known anyone who was saved by modern medicine? I hope that when you need it, those "murderous" doctors aren't around to help you.
hard core geek-ware
I did not know that!
but some things are just bad for you
Sure, somethings are bad for you, but caffeine ain't one of them. After extensive research very few and minor side effects have been found for caffeine, and pro-inflammatory isn't one of them.
Puritans like to believe that if something feels good then it has to be bad for you. Be it sex, coffee, or just even a hearty dance have all been at some point condemned by puritanical societies who cannot possibly believe that certain things are fun and harmless at the same time.
Coffee is a naturally grown product, thus does not have bad influence on your body
Curare is also a naturally grown product, and it's influence on your body is paralysis, leading to death as you no longer breathe.
I'll let you decide if that influence is good or bad... personally, I'm thinking it ain't great.
You can't take the sky from me...