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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.'"

24 of 404 comments (clear)

  1. Great, just great! by FlameboyC11 · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Us seattlites really needed another reason to drink coffee.

  2. Opposites Distract. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Insightful

    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.

  3. Moderation by ZeroExistenZ · · Score: 5, Insightful

    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
    1. Re:Moderation by DrEldarion · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Moderation in EVERYTHING is key. Caffeine will keep you awake, too much and you get addicted. Nutmeg tastes good, too much and you start hallucinating. Too much of a good thing is NEVER beneficial. ...

      Except sex, that is.

  4. A disconnect by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful


    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.

  5. Crunch time programmers sickly as ever by Finkbug · · Score: 5, Insightful

    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
  6. Take with a pinch of cocoa by Sinner · · Score: 5, Insightful

    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
  7. Health drink? by rinkjustice · · Score: 3, Insightful

    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.

    1. Re:Health drink? by JanneM · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Any substance that, when withdrwn from, gives you headaches, the sweats and severe drowsiness can be classified as a toxin to the body.

      Well, of course withdrawing water will give you headaches, drowsiness and even hallucinations. So let's cut down on that as well.

      Seriously, point is well taken, but you need to binge on coffee at a pretty pathological level to really get adverse physical effects. It's pretty benign as drugs go.

      --
      Trust the Computer. The Computer is your friend.
  8. Re:the worst are always good for you in some ways. by zephc · · Score: 2, Insightful

    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.
  9. Re:Yes, coffee has anti-oxidants by highwaytohell · · Score: 2, Insightful

    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.

  10. Most Studies are Junk by Yahkob · · Score: 0, Insightful

    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
    1. Re:Most Studies are Junk by bogjobber · · Score: 2, Insightful
      Right...

      I'm more likely to think of my grandmother who died of emphysema/lung cancer and my uncle who drank himself to death. But looking at one person and ignoring the entire body of scientific evidence on the subject is probably pretty reasonable.

    2. Re:Most Studies are Junk by LarsWestergren · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Imagine a Bell curve. You just picked a statistical sample of one (Keith Richards) who happened to fall in the outer edges of the statistics. This does not change the fact that by taking care of yourself you can drastically lower the risk of getting cancer or other diseases. The risk is not 0% of course, you can still get unlucky.

      If your conclusion (95% genetics) was right, why has life expectancy for some peoples in history been so low that being 40 years old was considered a venerable age? Do you really think human genes have changed that quickly?

      --

      Being bitter is drinking poison and hoping someone else will die

  11. Re:the worst are always good for you in some ways. by uighur · · Score: 5, Insightful

    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.

  12. Re:the worst are always good for you in some ways. by kfg · · Score: 3, Insightful

    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

  13. Re:Stereotype by Louis+Guerin · · Score: 4, Insightful

    >>Coffee is a naturally grown product, thus does not have bad influence on your body

    Just like opium ... and coca... and various nightshades... and peyote... and psylocybine mushrooms... and fugu... and ... and...

    Come off it, you fucking hippie. Just because it grows out of the ground doesn't make it not bad for you.

    L

  14. Re:That explains... by skingers6894 · · Score: 5, Insightful

    No, you are looking at that the wrong way. The coffee is what is keeping these incredibly unhealthy people in cubicles alive!

  15. Re:Stereotype by say · · Score: 3, Insightful
    Coffee is a naturally grown product, thus does not have bad influence on your body,

    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
  16. Re:the worst are always good for you in some ways. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

    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.

  17. Re:Dehydration causes cancer?? I think not. by ovit · · Score: 2, Insightful

    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.

  18. Re:That explains... by lcsjk · · Score: 2, Insightful

    I did not know that!

  19. Re:Yes, coffee has anti-oxidants by Alomex · · Score: 2, Insightful

    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.

  20. Natural != Healthy && Good; by Scrameustache · · Score: 2, Insightful

    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...